Herobrine Reborn
by Krios the Hunter
Summary: Everyone stared at me in shock. At first I didn't understand what they were looking at me for. Next to me, Jax said in awe, "Turn around." I slowly turned around. And I saw the words, and those words changed my life. Forever. "You, Toni Deniara, are the reincarnated soul of Herobrine."
1. Toni : I Jump Off A Cliff

Herobrine Reborn

* * *

** Part One: Blast Radius**

* * *

I Jump Off A Cliff

It was a perfect day.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and flowers were blooming.

In other words, the perfect day to go jumping off cliffs.

Let me explain.

It started up when my sister ran along the edge of a ravine without any worries about the fifty-block drop or the seven block wide lava pool at the bottom of the cliff.

She's always doing stuff like that.

"Cal!" I yelled. "_Cal, get away from that cliff!"_

She merrily skipped around, smiling brightly at me. "Don't worry, Toni. I'll be _fine._"

"That's what you said when you burned down the lodge," I muttered.

My sister was a reckless daredevil who loved to cause trouble. She got sent to the office so often it would make sense if she left a change of clothes and a bed there, so she could relax while being chewed out by the principal.

Once she pissed off the gym teacher by throwing a snowball that actually turned out to be an ice-ball at him.

He was knocked out for an hour. When he came to his senses, he let loose a stream of obscenities, which kind of surprised us.

She got sent to the office. Cal, I mean. not the teacher. (though maybe he sould've been the one going to the office, because those curses were the most colorful things' I'd ever heard.)

Another time she got in trouble in math because of her sassiness.

The math teacher had said, "A witch has seventeen harming potions. She throws seven of them at a villager. What is left?"

Cal had responded, "A dead villager."

I suppose she was correct in some way, but she still got sent to the office.

She was also pretty hot, and most of the boys at school had crushes on her. But she never felt attracted to them, since most boys are pretty immature and mostly just goof around and make dirty jokes.

(Which is weird, since that's what she does all the time.)

But this time she was especially being an idiot. Why would she go anywhere near a ravine? It's basically an unspoken rule that no one except miners and brave heroes go near ravines. Also, there were lots of monsters in ravines in general, so going near a ravine was a bad idea.

Cal rolled her eyes. "Toni, you are such a bore, you know that? Let the monsters come. I'll destroy them all!"

She's right, in the half-wrong, half-right way she is. I like to think I'm the exact opposite of Cal. I always listen to the adults, I always obey rules, and I get top grades in all my classes.

She calls me a bore, and for good reason.

It's actually kind of lonely sometimes. The girls will tell me to do some thing and then I say no, saying that it'll get me in trouble. Then they walk away and talk about me behind my back, calling me a goody-goody and a scaredy-cat.

It hurts.

The howl of a wolf snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Cal, we should leave. It's turning dark." I said nervously, looking around.

Cal scowled at me. "Just a few more minutes, okay?"

My voice grew tense. "Cal-"

"Alright, fine-"

"_CAL!"_

She turned to see an arrow flying through the air towards her. She would have been impaled if I hadn't yanked her out of the way.

I swore. I didn't have anything, apart from a few wooden planks left over from building class.

The arrow hit the ground, the end of the arrow quivering.

"GO!" I yelled.

I heard the clatter of bones, the moans of the zombies.  
"I knew we shouldn't have come here" I said, scowling. "Come on, Cal. We need to get-"

I turned to see a zombie blocking the way.

I ducked as it swung at the air. Suddenly I heard a cry of pain. I swiveled around.

Cal had been shot through the leg with an arrow, and crumpled. I pulled her to her feet.

"Cal!" I cried. A zombie lumbered towards her, moaning.

I dashed forwards and punched the zombie. The monster was knocked backwards, moaning. I punched it again, and it flew off the edge and fell into the lava.

It sank beneath the surface silently, quietly gurgling bubbles.

I put my arm around her shoulder, and she put her arm around my shoulder. We sprinted/limped away. In the distance, I saw a bridge leading across the ravine. Maybe we could hide or run away somewhere and wait until daytime.

We changed course, sprinting towards the bridge. A zombie lumbered towards me, and I punched it in the face.

As we ran, I noticed more and more monsters pooling out of the forests. A dozen zombies, two skeletons, and a witch (for some reason).

Not that I was counting.

We finally got to the bridge and ran across. "Go! GO!" I urged, lugging her along like a sack of beetroots. She was only half-conscious now. I glanced behind us. The monsters were gaining on us. A arrow hit the ground inches from my head.

The thing that did me in was then I was so preoccupied with what was behind us I forgot to think about what was ahead of me.

Henceforth, we ran metaphorically and literally into doom.

I looked forward just to see a creeper expanding, starting to glow...

I barely had any time to throw down two wooden blocks between us before the creeper exploded.

There was a blinding flash of light, and I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I flew into the air, blinding me with smoke.

I plummeted towards the ground, and everything went black.

?-?-?

_The smell of smoke._

_Something's burning._

_A red glow fills the room. It is not unlike the glow made by fire._

_A horrible laugh fills the room._

_"**This is what is to come, child.**"_

_The dream changes._

_This time, the surroundings are completely pitch black._

_A man with a beard suddenly appears in front of her._

_He looks at her, completely serious._

_He opens his mouth and vanishes._

_"Stop Klith."_

_Pain fills her head._

_She screams._

Black.

?-?-?

I woke with a start.

Every single spot on my body hurt. I noticed it was daytime.

Had I been here all night? My parents must be frantic.

That thought jolted me into action. I sat up instantly, and heard a 'crack' sound in my back. I winced.

_Did I break my spine?_

I did a quick check and cleverly deduced that my back was not, in fact, broken.

Then a thought burst into my mind.

_Cal!_

The thought was like a slap in the face. I'd been so worried about my self but not about my sister.

I looked around frantically.

By some crazy stroke of luck, she'd somehow managed to land in a pond of water.

As I pulled her out of the water, I prayed, _please don't let her have drowned._

I checked her pulse.

Still alive.

I flopped backwards onto the ground, weak with relief. It was a miracle I'd made it through the night without being spotted by any mobs.

I spotted a few wooden blocks just sitting on the ground. I remembered the other night.

_This must have come from the bridge, _I mused.

I used the remains to make a crafting table, and then made a pickaxe. I mined a bunch of cobblestone, then crafted a cobblestone pickaxe to mine faster.

Soon I had a full stack of cobblestone. I sat against the stone wall, exhausted.

I heard a grinding sound. I sat up, and winced as there was a 'crack' sound in my back again.

_Ow!_

I heard the same grinding noise again. Like someone was rubbing two stones together.

I got up.

And slowly turned around.

I saw an enormous figure. It was made completely out of stone, and it was holding a stalagmite. Or was it a stalacite? I still had trouble figuring out the difference.

It growled, and I whimpered.

"Rock golem."

It roared, and swung its club. I ducked, and it smashed a boulder into pieces.

I'm not going to lie. The entire time, I was screaming like a little girl. When the golem roared, I thought I would have an unfortunate accident.

I dived out of the way as the golem swung the club again, cracking the stone floor. I swiveled and threw a rock at it. It bounced off its head, and it roared. It smashed the rock again and again with it's club, which gave me enough time to drag Cal into a small crevice so she wouldn't get caught in the cross fire.

I heard another roar and saw the golem running towards me, full speed.

I turned to run, but the lava pool was in my way. I could have built my way across, but that would take time. By the time I built across, the golem would be on me.

The golem was five blocks away now. It roared again, and charged in for the kill.

I yelped and leaped out of the way. The golem ran head first into the pool of lava, and fell in.

I stood there, stunned. No way was my luck this good.

I stared for a few seconds and screamed, "YES! WOOHOO!"

The rock golem was obviously dead. No way could it survive jumping into a lava pool, right?

I turned my back on the pool, which served to be my fatal mistake.

Something very hot flew out of the pool and smashed into my back, _hard._

I screamed in pain as I flew forward and face planted into the ground. I groaned and flipped onto my back.

The rock golem had probably lost a ton of health-the golem was steaming, and some parts of it were burned so bad they were black as coal.

What could I do? I couldn't run away-I'd get twenty blocks before I came to a dead end. I couldn't just push the golem into the pool again. Because, please. have the seen the bulk of that thing? I couldn't move it a block if I drank twenty Strength potions and slammed into it with a sword enchanted with Knockback.

So, my only option was to fight.

Which was suicide.

The golem was charging towards me now, despite it's wounds. It would flatten me in a second, given the chance.

It looked like the end.

_No! No! I am NOT going to die like this! I will not go cowering and whimpering in a corner! _

_And what about Cal, huh? What's going to happen after you die? The golem's just going to pick her up and toss her into the lava?_

_And will you let that happen?_

I stared at the golem, which was now thirty blocks away.

_WILL YOU?_

Something in me just snapped. Completely cold, I pulled out my crafting table and threw a stick down.

Twenty blocks away.

I slammed a cobble stone block down.

Ten blocks.

Slammed down another.

Five.

And pulled a stone sword off the crafting table.

Zero.

I swiveled around and swung the stone sword as hard as I could.

The stone blade smashed into the golem's leg, completely smashing it. The golem wobbled on one leg. I'd swung the stone sword extremely hard. So hard, in fact, that one-thirds of the durability had been reduced already. But I couldn't stop now.

I kicked off the ground and into the air-three blocks, a height that should have been impossible. I slammed the golem in the chest with the blade.

Now two-thirds of the durability was gone.

The golem swung the huge fist, slamming me into a wall. I screamed, more out of fury than pain. I swung the sword again, smashing one of its arms to pieces.

The sword splintered, shattered on the ground.

The golem fell backwards and hit the ground with an earth-shaking_ boom._

I pulled the stone pickaxe out of my inventory and raised it high into the air, and smashed it into the golem's face. The pickaxe snapped. Automatically, I pulled out the wooden pickaxe and smashed that over the golem's head.

I literally pulled everything out of my inventory and attacked the golem with it. Wooden plank? Just smash that on it's head. Cobblestone block? Get a taste of your own medicine, jerk! Stick? You get the idea.

I smashed everything I had on the golem's head, and I didn't stop until I realized there was nothing left in my inventory. I stopped. I looked down at the golem, which had one health point left. I swear, it looked like a sock puppet turned inside out. I walked up to it, looked it in it's eyes, and crushed the head with my shoe.

The body stopped moving, and dissolved into dust which drifted away on the wind.

I stood there for maybe an hour, looking at where the golem had been lying before I'd crushed it's head.

Finally, I came to my senses and walked over to Cal, who had woken up.

She rubbed her head. "Owww..."

"Hey, you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She frowned. "Is that a broken pickaxe?"

I held up the remains of the wooden pickaxe. I smiled weakly.

"It's a long story."


	2. Everything's On Fire

Everything's On Fire

When I got home, my parents freaked.

She ranted on and on and on and on until I thought my ears were bleeding. But finally my mom just ended it with 'Oh, but I'm just glad you're safe!'

I told her about what happened, but left out the part about the rock golem. She didn't need to know. If she did she'd probably freak out again.

I walked into my room and practically leaped into my bed.

I turned over and laid on my back, staring at the ceiling.

I was bored. I guess everything pales in comparison when you kill a rock golem.

Eventually I went to sleep.

?-?-?

_She's standing in a graveyard._

_She looks around, confused as to how she got here and why she is here._

_She spots a name on one of the tombstones. She bends over to inspect it._

_It's _her _name._

_Her heartbeat quickens, and she starts to sweat. She stumbles back._

_Something floats onto her palm. She stares at it._

_A glowing piece of ash._

_She turns around to see a wave of fire, engulfing everything and anything in it's way._

**_"Will you still proceed, little child, if this is what awaits you?"_**

_The wave engulfs her, and pain fills every single bit of her body._

_Black._

?-?-?

I woke up with a start, sweating like crazy and my heartbeat racing. I grab my clock and stare at it.

I'd woken up hours before school.

I sighed and flopped backwards onto my bed.

I thought about my dream, and didn't sleep at all.

"Come on, time for school!"

Cal bursts through the door and starts banging on a hollow iron block she calls a bell. A deep ringing sound echoes through the room, and I wince.

"You're already awake? Gee, earlier than usual, isn't it?"

"I guess," I mutter. "And quiet that stupid bell or I'll grab it and toss it out the window!"

You'd think that after being blown up by a creeper and being shot through the leg would kind of traumatize someone, but not Cal. Soon, she was back to her old chipper self.

I ate a hasty breakfast, stuffed all my books and binders into my bag, and ran out the door, yelling "Bye, Mom! See you later!'

Cal was already ahead of me, and was walking at a leisurely pace, like she had all the time in the world.

"Hey! Wait-up!"

I started to run, but something grabbed me and yanked me backwards. I landed on my butt.

"Well, look what we have here."

Of course. It was Landen and his little goons.

"Well. How's your day? What's wrong, little girl? You look like a creeper!"

I did not appreciate that comparison, because I had just recently almost been killed by a creeper.

"Scram." I said, scowling.

Landen's smirk vanished. "Well, well. That's not how you treat your superiors, is it?"

"Do you start _every _one of your sentences with 'well'? Really, it's kind of redundant by this point."

Landen scowled. "I'll show you redudndant!"

"Redundant."

"Huh?"

"You pronounced it wrong. It's redundant."

Landen pulled me into the air by my shirt, his face twisted into an expression of pure fury.

By now I was kind of hoping that Cal would catch my eye, but she was already long gone.

Landen punched me in the stomach and dropped me on the ground. I groaned.

I desperately tried to suck in a breath, but it felt like both of my lungs were punctured.

Landen sneered. "How do you like it now, _little girl?_"

Him and his goons laughed, and they dumped all the contents out of my school bag and left me lying there, chortling and high-fiving each other.

I shakily got to my feet and started gathering all of my stuff, putting them all back into the bag.

"Psst!"

I stopped.

Looked around.

No one there.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

No answer.

"I should warn you-I killed a rock golem! I can do it again!" I said, trying to sound brave.

There was a laugh.

"You know what, I can believe that."

I swiveled around to see a boy about my age, leaning against a tree.

He didn't look like anyone I recognized.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Ja-" he stopped. "That's not important. What I came here for is to warn you."

I felt confused. Warn me?

"Listen. You need to leave. Now. If you value your life, you should leave. _Now._"

I was taken aback. "I'm not just going to _abandon _my family!"

"Toni, this isn't a matter of _abandon,_ this is a matter of life and death!"

"How do you know my name?"

He sighed in exasperation. "Listen, if you're not going to leave, at least warn the others! Warn anyone you can. Warn your sister. She's intelligent. She'll know what you're talking about. Convince all of them that they need to leave. _Now._"

I scowled. this was starting to make my head hurt. "Well, why don't you convince _them?_"

He sighed in exasperation. "_Because,_ if I get seen doing this, I'll be exiled! Cast out!"

"What-"

His eyes widened. "Someone's coming."

He made to leave, but I grabbed his arm. "Hey! You're not done yet. Explain!"

"Let go!"

"NOW!"

"_If you don't let go, you are making matters much worse for everyone!_"

I'm not sure what happened, but something wrapped around my waist and flung me backwards. It was like a rope.

He stepped into the shadows, and before my disbelieving eyes, dissolved into the shadow.

I sat there on the ground, just staring at the spot where he'd disappeared in shock until Cal came.

"Toni, what are you doing? We're going to be late!"

She noticed me looking at the tree. She glanced at it, but there was nothing to see.

She rolled her eyes. "Hello? Are you brainwashed or something?"

I snapped back to reality. "Uh?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. Come on, we'll be late!"

She practically started to drag me across the path all the way to school.

?-?-?

We were late. No surprise there.

I didn't care.

All I was worried about was the boy and his ominous words.

His words echoed in my mind.

_Toni, this isn't a matter of abandon, this is a matter of life and death!_

I shook my head. Don't worry. It was probably the words of some loony kid who lived in the street or something.

But he'd seemed so serious...

I was so occupied with the mystery that in gym I ran right over the finish line and ran right into a tree.

Yeah, I ran off the track and didn't even notice until I hit a tree.

Maybe you can imagine how Landen and his friends reacted to that. Boy, they got a hoot out of that.

At least until Cal stomped on his foot. Man, that guy screamed like a pig.

In my mind, the school day went by in a blur. At lunchtime, my spoon missed my mouth and I accidentally splashed my homeroom teacher with mushroom soup.

Well, most of it got on me, so no need to send me to the office, right?

HA. Wrong.

Anyways, back to the future.

I got home, and walked into the door instead of opening it.

I guess that's one foolproof way to open the door...

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

_Warn your sister. She's intelligent. She'll know what you're talking about._

I shook those thoughts away and shifted under the blanket. I shouldn't worry.

Everything will be fine.

?-?-?

Update: EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE, EVERYTHING BURNING.

Sorry, but it was urgent.

I woke up to the smell of smoke. I groaned and covered my face with my pillow. I thought Mom had burned the steak again.

That changed when I heard a scream.

I sat up, and looked around, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Only then did I realize something was wrong.

Orange light was streaming in through the window, like the light of a fire.

Fire...

"Mom? Dad?" I yelled.

No answer.

"Cal? Cal? Hey, Calliope! Over here!"

Again, no answer.

My heartbeat quickened. I started to sweat, but it wasn't because of the heat.

_Don't worry, Toni! Everything's fine! Maybe it's bonfire night or something! Everything will be fine!_

And if fate could talk, it would laugh and say 'HA! No.'

Fifty percent of the roof caved in on me, and the burning wooden planks crashed down, crushing everything and literally landing _one freaking block from my bed._

I screamed and shrieked a curse that would get my mouth washed out for sure.

I scrambled back on the bed and fell onto the floor.

The heat was unbearable now, and it sucked all the air out of me. Coughing, I ran to the wall and started punching away at it.

One block broke down, and a large plume of smoke wafted through the gap and made me have a very bad day.

I coughed and retched and bent over, sprawled on all four limbs, when I saw the fire consume my bed.

Coughing, I hacked away at the next block with my fist. It splintered, and I bounded out of the gap in my room. I ran for blocks until I sank to my knees.

And collapsed in the park was my sister.

I screamed, and made to ran towards her.

But I stopped.

I saw my father and some man, confronting each other in the middle of the park.

I watched in amazement as he pulled out a glowing diamond sword and pointed it at him. He said something, and the man appeared to laugh. The man pulled out a glowing red hoe.

_A hoe?_

Okay, a sword I can get. An axe, ok. A pickaxe, eeh...I can imagine.

But a hoe?

But something told me that wasn't a regular hoe. The blade was longer than two blocks, and the handle was three blocks long.

And that blade looked wicked sharp.

The man laughed and swung the hoe thing. My father leaped back, parried a blow from the man, and lunged forward with the sword.

The man with the hoe sidestepped, kicked him in the side as he ran by, and slashed the sword.

Blood splattered the ground from a gash in my father's back.

I screamed, but no one could hear me over the roaring of the fire.

My every senses were filled by heat, and ashes floated down from the sky, like burning snow.

I couldn't see the sky, couldn't tell if it was night or day, because smoke filled the air, making it hard to see.

My father crumpled to the ground, groaning. For some cruel reason I could hear everything they said now.

"Well?" said the man with the hoe. "Do you yield?"

"Never," my father groaned.

The man smirked and kicked him onto his back.

His yells cut me worse than any sword could.

"I said, _do you yield?_"

My father groaned and got shakily to his feet.

They both made eye contact.

"You cannot take her," My father snarled. "She is the most powerful being anyone has seen since the era of Notch. She will not obey a little snot like you."

I thought the man would slice him again, or at the very least get angry, but he just smirked.

"Is that what you believe?" the man said, purring like a lion. "How sad. Herobrine was never accepted as a true human. He is as evil as me."

Herobrine? I thought he was a boy.

"Never," my father snarled. "Have I heard such an outrageous thing. Herobrine is a trickster. Mischevious. A liar. But not evil."

The man wasn't smiling now. "Oh, dear," he said, like he was actually concerned. "You really do believe in the prophecy, don't you? The prophecy is a pile of slime created by an loony old man. It does not speak the truth."

"You are a fool," my father growled. "He was a wise man-"

"Quiet." the man kicked him backwards onto the ground again.

"The new age will come. And when it does, He will forgive all that worship him. We will weed out those insignificant little pricks who still believe in the prophecy. And it will be the greatest era known to man. You'll see." The man's smile returned.

"Oh, wait. You won't. Because you'll be dead."

He flicked his hand, and I watched in absolute horror as my father was thrown backwards by some invisible force, and smashed through the wall of a house,

The entire house rumbled and caved in on my father with an enourmous crash.

And burst into flames.

I screamed in fury, so loud that it echoed over the mountains.

I know. It wasn't smart.

But dude, my dad was dead and my village was on fire.

How could I not scream?

The man's head twisted to face me.

He smiled cruelly.

"Well, aren't you just the scariest little thing?"

A dozen pikes and spears materialized out of nowhere, and they all flew towards me.


	3. I Win By Having A Temper Tantrum

I Win By Having A Temper Tantrum

I'm not going to lie. When I saw those very sharp weapons flying towards me, I thought I was gonna die.

(Hey, that rhymed!)

So I did the thing everybody else would have done.

I stumbled to my feet, turned around, and ran away.

I could hear the possessed weapons following me through the air, and I dove to the ground, my hands over my head.

Six spears and swords sliced overhead (quite literally) and impaled themselves to the ground so close to me that I swear it sliced some of my hair off.

I got to my feet and ran past the possessed weapons. I turned to see the weapons wrench themselves out of the ground and make a kind of buzzing sound, like they were angry.

I looked ahead-because only looking behind you can kill you-and what I saw made my heart stop.

It was a dead end.

I swore, not something I usually do, but I swore, and I said it loudly. My gym teacher would have been proud.

I turned around.

_No other way..._

I backed up, all the way into the wall.

The weapons paused three blocks away, and all of them took turns jabbing at me, the terrified kid sprawled against the wall. Then, they all started to move in.

_They're going to kill me, _I thought depressingly. _I can't run this time. Or repeatedly smash weapons over their non-existent heads._

_I'm finished._

The weapons retreated a few blocks and flew at me, going in for the kill.

I shut my eyes.

And suddenly I felt like I was falling through a long and dark tunnel.

I opened my eyes. I saw a bright light hurtling towards me, getting closer every second.

Or maybe it was me getting closer.

My scream was drowned out by the sound of crashing waves in my head.

And suddenly my two feet were on the ground.

I staggered off and vomited on the ground.

"Don't worry, you get used to it."

I swiveled around to see the boy, except this time he was holding an iron sword that must have been two blocks long.

I snarled, "You."

My expression must have been pretty scary, because he backed up a few steps. He held his hands up. "Listen, I know you're scared, but-"

I pinched his mouth shut, which was probably not a good idea to do to someone who was holding a sword, but I didn't care. "Ah, ah, ah, _no._ I want you to tell me what in the Nether is going on. _Right now._"

He blinked, and then regained his composure. "I will explain, _once_ we get to the...Aether."

this time, it was _my _turn to blink. "The Aether? Like, as in the _dimension _Aether?

The boy rolled his eyes. "No, The dimension is a myth. This is just named after it."  
"Ok." I said dumbly. "What's your name?"

He shot me a look. "Jax. Just Jax. Nothing else."

"Um, ok, Jax."

I looked around. For the first time, I noticed this was the ravine I had nearly died in. "So, where's this Aether?"

He smiled. "We're right on top of it."

I blinked yet again. "Huh?"

He smiled. He pulled some sort of dagger out of his pocket and drove it into the ground.

The ground melted away, revealing a tunnel, not unlike a slide, leading down to who knows where.

He put away his sword. "After you." I heard a whipping sound, like someone was whipping something through the air.

Oh, wait...

"_Down!_" Jax yelled, and pushed me down. A glowing red ax slammed into the wall, inched from Jax's head.

"Get in the tunnel _now!"_ Jax yelled, slicing a spear in half and pointing to the hole.

I had no choice. I jumped in, and my last sight was Jax parrying a blow from a sword and leaping in after me.

?-?-?

I slid down for what seemed like hours.

When I finally got to the bottom, I was about to vomit, yet again.

Suddenly the tunnel opened up, and I slid out of the tube/tunnel/slide and landed on my face.

The people around the tunnel looked at me and snickered. Jax slid smoothly onto his feet from a second tube I hadn't seen before.

"Smooth." he snorted. I struggled to my feet and shot him a glare.

I started to look around, and the thing I saw was amazing.

It wasn't a desolate underground village filled with shops, as I'd originally thought.

Skyscrapers rose high into the sky, and small shops were littered around the place, with lots of people buying or selling things. I saw a man arguing with a villager about the cost of some glowstone, and heard a man yelling "Enchanted apples! Nice and juicy!"

"When you're done gawking at the scenery, if you'd follow me," he said. I rolled my eyes at him and started following him down the road.

I glanced upwards, and was surprised to see a blue sky, with a bbunch of clouds and a big sun.

"How come we can see the sky?" I asked him. "I thought we were underground?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well, of course that isn't the _actual sky,_ it's just an image. An illusion. What's really up there is bedrock."

"Bedrock...can't be mined," I said, though it sounded more like a question.

"No," he agreed. "But it can be created. Created with magic."

"Magic," I said flatly.

"Magic."

"You're kidding? _Real magic?_"

He snorted. "Obviously."

I scowled. I was tired of him treating me like a little kid. I stepped in front of him, blocking his way. "Listen, you told me you would tell me what is going on when we got down here. We're here. So tell me." I crossed my arms.

"I'll explain-"

"Let me guess. Later. In a few hours? A week?"

He groaned. "You are stubborn."

"Thanks. It's a family trait."

"Listen-"

"No, _you _listen. My sister is probably dead, or captured, or brainwashed by now. My father was murdered in front of my very eyes. My entire _house_ got set on fire. You don't understand-"

"I don't understand? _I _don't understand?" he said, his eyes blazing with fury.

I felt taken aback. What had I said that made him so mad? But I wasn't about to back down.

"Listen, I just want to know what any of this has to do with Herobrine, or whoever the hell this 'Klith' guy is-"

Jax's eyes widened and he snarled agitatedly, "_You! Do not! Say that name! Aloud! EVER!_"

I blinked again, surprised. "Why not?"

"Just _shut your damn mouth until we get to the Magitorium!_"

"Ok, ok!' I said, slightly insulted. "Jeez, calm yourself!"

After that, we walked in silence.

When we got to the Magitorium, my mouth dropped.

It looked like a huge fortress made out of obsidian, and there were dispensers inside of the walls and bored looking guards with crossbows chatting at the top of the wall. The gate was a huge door made out of obsidian, and skulls as doorknobs.

One of the guards noticed us and hit some kind of lever thing. The gates opened with a small screech.

"We...we have to go in there?" I said, my mouth dry.

"Don't worry, I know it's intimidating, but the layout is the _least _scariest thing about the Magitorium." Jax said to me.

We walked through the gates onto an okay looking field with a few flowers and statues. I noticed that the back wall had a huge crater in it. People were working on it, placing obsidian and arguing with each other.

One of them, a guy with blond hair, noticed us and called across the field.

"Hey! Hey, Jaz! Are you going to help out, or are you going to sit there and stare at the wall?"

Jax scowled. "You don't own me, Jared!" he called across the field. "I'm not your stupid pet! And it's _Jax!_""

"Yeah, yeah," Jared said with a sneer. "Well, what are you planning on doing today? Swinging your sword at daisies?"

He smirked. "When I get promoted, I'll remember the guy who got me there!"

Jax rolled his eyes and dragged me along. "Come on, let's go."

We walked through a door and into a hallway. "Who was that guy?" I said, glancing behind us.

Jax frowned. "That was Jared. Thinks he's the reincarnated soul of Notch or something, though we all know it hasn't actually been announced yet."

He stopped at a door. I read the number on the door. 717.

He gave me a card. "This is your room."

I blinked. "But I just got here. How-"

Jax shrugged. "I dunno. Well, enjoy your stay, I guess."

"Um, how-"

Jax walked away. Was it just my imagination, or was he ignoring me on purpose?

"Uh..."

I stared. I noticed that there was a slot next to the door. I slipped my card in.

The door swung open.

"Okay..." I said nervously, and stepped inside.

I dived into my bed, staring at the ceiling.

My room was just your regular hotel room, nothing special. It had a furnace. It had a crafting table. It had a bed.

Um...

It had a bed, I guess.

I itched at my neck. I was lying on something scratchy. I reached underneath myself to scratch, but found a paper instead.

I pulled it out. It said:

**Fighting practice 3:30, Arena. Don't be late! **

**_Jax_**

I stared at it blankly for a second. Then something clicked in my head.

I swore, which wasn't like me. I tumbled off my bed and ran for the door.

I was late!

As I was running, I thought about how this stupid 'Klith' had changed my life in so many ways. I was never late-not unless I was finishing up homework.

And the only time I'd ever swore was when I was little. (My dad had stepped on a sharp piece of wood and swore. Me, as a little kid, wanted to sound like my dad, so I copied him.)

(As you can imagine, my mom was mortified.)

Lost in a cascade of memories, I smashed into the wall.

I bounced off and landed on my butt.

I gingerly rubbed my nose, which had been the first thing to hit the wall. I looked to the side and saw a door labeled _arena. _

_This must be the arena, _I thought, because I was smart that way.

I cautiously opened the door to see Jax saying something to a bunch of other kids about the same age as me.

And why was he wearing those sunglasses? Those were totally cool.

I just stood there awkwardly until Jax noticed me.

"Toni," he said. "I thought I said not to be late."

I wasn't quite sure what to say, so I settled for being snarky.

"Well, am I not allowed to rest after nearly getting impaled in a dozen different places?" I said.

He raised his eyebrow. "Sit."

I plopped onto the ground with a lot of people watching me.

I felt uncomfortable. I wasn't very used to being noticed. I was just the bookish girl, the smart girl, the shy girl.

"Alright, today we're just going to be practicing. If you can kill all ten zombies, I'll let you leave. If you don't, well, you'll have to start again. I'll demonstrate."

He pulled something out of his pockets and tossed them into the air.

I blinked. _Are those spawn eggs?_

The spawn eggs burst in midair, and ten zombies materialized.  
As they fell, Jax pulled out his large sword.

They landed on the ground without a scratch of damage.

Two of the zombies charged, and Jax took both of them out in one swing. Another ran at him, but Jax side stepped the attack and stuck his foot out. The zombie went sprawling. It tried to get up, but Jax speared it through the back of the head.

There were a bunch of growling sounds, and Jax turned.

The remaining six zombies charged, evil in their dead eyes.

Jax charged. He sliced one zombie straight down the middle, turned, and decapitated two other zombies.

The final three zombies surrounded him and started to close in on him. Jax looked around, and smirked.

_What are you doing? Swing your stupid sword!_

When the three zombies were only half a block away from him, he kicked off the ground-so hard he cracked the ground-and flew into the air, four blocks.

He raised his sword high into the air, and his eye glinted.

AS he fell, he swung his sword towards the ground.

The sword hit the ground at the same time he landed on the ground.

The sword sank to its hilt, and a wave of pure force exploded from the ground, and the zombies were blown backwards, into the ground.

All of the undead corpses dissolved into dust.

Jax yanked his sword out of the ground. He blew a strand of hair out of his face and smirked.

"And that's how you do things."

_Showoff,_ I thought. But I couldn't help being a little impressed.

"Your turn."

Everyone, one by one, tried their hardest. A blonde boy punched a zombie in the face so hard it's head literally went flying off its shoulders. A girl with pigtails swung her sword, slicing five zombies at the same time.

Everyone who had killed ten zombies could have left at any point, but they hung around just to see how we did.

I got nervous. Everyone seemed to have at least one cool move. I wouldn't have anything. Heck, I didn't even know how to use a bow and arrow. I knew how to use a sword, but it was just swinging my sword. Nothing impressive.

So when it was my turn, I tried extremely hard.

Maybe a little too hard.

The only zombie I managed to kill was when I tripped and thrust my hands out to break my fall, accidentally killing a zombie.

I hope I wouldn't be asked to fight with other people. With my skills, I'd probably end up killing all of my teammates instead of the enemy.

I tripped again, except this time I didn't murder a zombie.

The zombies took this as a sign of weakness and charged, kicking me, punching, biting.

Then the laughter came. I looker over to see everyone laughing, pointing in my direction and snickering.

And I saw Jax, looking at me with utter disappointment.

And something in me snapped.

I screamed and slashed my sword in a huge arc, catching six zombies at once and knocking them back. I swiveled around and impaled a zombie, and then decapitated the other two zombies.

I turned to see the other six I'd knocked back lumbering towards me. I dashed forward and cleaved one of the zombies in half. The next zombie didn't look very enthusiastic to attack, so I ran to it and sliced its legs out from under it.

The remaining four surrounded me, and started punching me.

I shielded myself from the onslaught, and rage filled my veins. I would _not_ be humiliated.

I screamed in fury and punched the ground.

And here's the weird part.

Electricity arced from my fist into the ground, and the entire ground exploded. I could hear everyone else shrieking and covering their eyes, but for some reason the light didn't bother me as much. I could see the vague silhouettes of the zombies, and I watched as they vaporized from the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, I people saw people shielding their eyes. The clothes of the people closest to me were a little scorched. Jax's sunglasses were steaming.

Everyone slowly put their hands down.

And they looked at me.

I shifted uneasily.

"Um, sorry?" I offered.

Jax removed his sunglasses and stared at me.

A small smile formed on his face.

"Well, that was very entertaining."

**EDIT:**

**As you know, the name Magitorium is probably the most cliche name ever. I'm sorry about that, but I'm not good at making up original names and stuff. So if you guys have any suggestions, that would be nice.**

**Welp, I'm out. Have a nice day!**

**P.S. Don't worry, the next chapter is coming out soon.**

**_Krios_**


	4. All Hail The Magic Whiteboard

**Ok...this is my first time putting an authors note at the beginning of a story. And I forgot to note in the other four chapters that I don't own Minecraft. If you thought so, well, sorry to burst your bubble.**

**Enjoy!**

**_Krios_**

* * *

All Hail The Magic Whiteboard

As I walked out of the Arena, people stared at me and whispered about me, throwing glances my way and nervously staring at me.

Like, really? Does _no one adknowledge the fact that I just killed three zombies by punching the ground? Am I nothing to you?_

"How'd you do that?"

I turned around to see the blonde boy that had punched off a zombie's face.

"Um, uh."

Yes, I know. Smooth. But what else could I say?

"Storm magic takes decades to master, so how did _you_ manage to do it?" he said, and quickly added "No offense."

"I just...hit them a few times...and then I won..."

Yes, that looks like a lot of periods, but that's honestly what it felt like.

_Come on! _I scolded myself. _He's just a boy! A boy who just so happens to be extremely handsome!_

He raised his eyebrow. "It certainly didn't look like that."

"No, it doesn't." I agreed.

Awkward silence.

"...you said something about magic...?" I said, desperate to make the conversation slightly less awkward.

He grinned. "Oh, yeah. Magic. It exists, though it's really hard to master. The most easiest is probably water or fire. Yes, I know. Very stereotypical. But it's honestly just so simple compared to the others."

I nodded enthusiastically in interest.

Ok, I wasn't interested. I just wanted to look like I was interested.

He glanced at his watch. "Whoop. Late for my daily archery lesson."

He started to jog away.

"Wait!" I called. He turned around, an amused expression on his face.

"W-what's your name?" I said.

He threw me a smile, and something stirred in my stomach. "Owen's the name."

He ran down the hallway.

I stood there, trying to remember my name when Jax suddenly appeared next to me. "What was that?"

I jumped. "Don't."

He looked confused. "Don't what?"

"Do that. You know, that thing where you appear behind me without making a sound."

"Sorry. Just a habit." he said, then squinted at me. "But that's not the point. What was that?"

I blushed. "It was...um...I don't..."

"You know, in the arena."

"Oh! Right! Yeah! That!" I enthusiastically said, desperate for a handhold.

He frowned. "What did you _think_ I was talking about?"

"Uhhh...nothing...Owen..." I muttered under my breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Anyways, I don't know what happened in the Arena. It just kind of...happened."

"Wow. Poetic."

"Thanks."

He scowled. "Seriously, though. How'd you do it?"

I was starting to get annoyed. "I don't know! I just said!"

He just sighed and looked at me like I was stupid.

"Why are you even asking?" I demanded. "What's so special?"

He sighed. "There was a prophecy about how the three creators reborn would band together to defeat Entity 303, also known as Klith."

When he said Klith, the temperature seemed to drop fifty degrees.

I blinked. "So who are these three creators?"

He started counting on his fingers, a distant look on his face. "Oh, there's Notch, obviously, there's Herobrine, he's one of the more popular ones, and there's Null, the least powerful and least well known."

I probably looked pretty confused. "But isn't Herobrine evil? And so is Null?"

He scowled. "That's just myths, speculation made by the most craziest theorists. He's the embodiment of Mischief. But he's not evil."

I had a flashback about what my father had said before he died.

_Herobrine is a trickster. Mischevious. A liar. But not evil._

Jax sighed miserably. "And I am the vessel of Null."

I stared at him. "Huh? So, you're like a coat or something?"

He stared at me, and scowled. "No. It means I am the reborn soul of Null."

"..."

Yeah, I know. My conversation skills were slowly dipping, all the way below sea level. But what were you supposed to say when someone says that they're the reincarnated soul of Null?

"But what does this have to do with what I did in the Arena?" I asked, perplexed.

He stared. "Toni, Herobrine was the master of storm magic."

...!?...!?

No words could describe the confusion I felt, so I thought that would do it.

He studied me critically. "Well, I'm off to lunch. No more questions. I've told you all I can."

"Wait, I thought lunch was at-" I checked my watch. "Twelve. Right now it's six."

He gave me a dry smile. "Toni, your watch has been stuck at six ever since you fought that rock golem."

I blinked. "You were there when-"

But he was already jogging away.

The fact that he had been there when I fought the rock golem opened up a whole new onslaught of questions, but if it was true that he was the reincarnated soul of Null, I really didn't want to be tossed into the Void.

Wait...

If the Void is under the bedrock, and the Aether is under the bedrock, where _is_ the void? Is it on top of the Aether? Is it the Aether itself?

!?

Sorry about that, but there really is no other way to describe how I felt just then.

Wait...

Where _is _the place they have lunch here?

?-?-?

After a lot of wandering around and accidentally walking through a door that actually happened to be a Nether portal, a man wearing iron armor found me cluelessly wandering the hall and brought me to the place they had lunch in. It was good that he found me, because if it weren't for him I'd probably still be wandering the halls now.

I found the table Jax was sitting at. He was chatting with a few people. He saw me and gestured for me to come and sit next to him.

"Who's that?" said a girl with red hair. When she moved, it looked like her hair was on fire. She was twirling a dagger on the table with a bored look on her face.

Jax gestured to me. "That's Toni. Toni, meet Ingrid. She's...um...she's ok, I guess. She likes to stab things."

She nodded her head. "Hi."

I blinked. "Uh, hi."

I sat down far away from Ingrid.

"He's Arc. She's Ariel. Don't mind the eye patch. And that's Cross. He's...kind of scary, actually. And that's pretty much it. This is my team." Jax said.

I blinked. "Team for...what?"

"You know. The games. Skywars. Survival Games. The classics."

I'd never heard of any of those, but I nodded like I knew what he was talking about.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The chatter stopped. It felt like a movie theater.

Everyone turned to look at...a whiteboard.

Although bigger than the usual whiteboard, (and by big I mean like fifty blocks) it was pretty much your regular whiteboard.

"Why is everyone staring at the whiteboard?" I whispered.

"Shh." Jax shushed me. "The announcements."

That did nothing to answer my questions, but I just turned to look at the whiteboard. I waited for someone to walk up and start drawing stuff on the whiteboard.

Instead, my jaw dropped when I saw chalk float up seemingly by itself and write down stuff on the board.

On the board it wrote: _Hello, everyone! How's your day so far?_

At the exact same time, a disembodied voice said: "Hello, everyone! How's your day so far?"

I jumped, and Arc rolled his eyes at me.

_Now if you'd please stay quiet while I do headcount._

I couldn't see how the whiteboard could do a head count when it didn't even have eyes, but I stayed quiet.

After maybe a minute, the whiteboard said:

"Lucius. Where's Lucius?"

"He's getting his arm sewed back on." called somebody. At that, I turned pale. Jax gave me a reassuring pat.

"Oh. Yes. Those hurt. Anyways, all of you are here and accounted for. Except for Lucius."

"The Skywars game on Friday has been cancelled, due to the dragon attack that has damaged a lot of the spawn areas. And there is an enchanted iron sword with Fire Aspect II and Sharpness IV In the lost and found. It's a rather nice blade, and if no one takes it in the next 24 hours, it's going to be mine. No, wait. I don't have hands I can hold it with. Well, I'll put it somewhere. Oh, and I almost forgot-the new warrior Toni Deniara has been added to the halls of the Magitorium."

_Warrior?_

_What exactly were you thinking when you brought me here, Jax?_

"Ok, I think that's all. Enjoy lunch!"

Suddenly a dozen steaming plates of food appeared on the table.

Everyone started digging in, stuffing steak and cake into their mouths.

I cautiously took a sip of water. Thankfully, it got rid of the taste of ash and monster dust out of my tongue.

Jax frowned. "The whiteboard wasn't very talkative today."

"Really?" I asked. "She-er, he-uh, _it _seemed plenty talkative."

Jax rolled his eyes at me. "Sometimes I forget you're new here. Usually the whiteboard talks your ear off about enchantments and new ores that have been found in the world, and new weapons, like a scythe-"

Suddenly, the whiteboard started spazzing out. The chalk wrote down random letters like 'K' 'J' 'W' 'L'.

"Whoa," Jax said. "That's not good."

Suddenly, the chalk fell to the ground.

Everyone had stopped eating and was staring at the whiteboard.

The chalk floated up and wonkily wrote a sentence:

_It...it appears there are more...pressing matters than the cancelled Skywars._

Everyone started to talk nervously.

_The...the creators have...have spoken to me...and...well..._

_..._

_Maybe it's just best to show you._

I turned to look at Jax. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," he said with a frown. "Nothing like this has ever...happened...before..."

Jax's face had gone slack, and his eyes had become wide with shock.

I realized that he was looking at me.

Everyone stared at me in shock. At first I didn't understand what they were looking at me for. Next to me, Jax said in awe, "Turn around."

I slowly turned around.

And I saw the words, and those words changed my life.

Forever.

"You, Toni Deniara, are the reincarnated soul of Herobrine."

Silence. Complete silence.

More words appeared on the whiteboard.

"The world is being overcome by people like Klith."

Everyone cringed.

"We need people who are willing to do anything for the people they love."

"I propose a quest."

At that, everyone started to yell and shout and scream wildly-

"_SILENCE!_" the whiteboard screamed. "Listen to the creator!"

Quiet.

"Jax Endstone."

At that, Jax turned pale and spilled his milk on himself.

"You are to seek out Shaft and get help from her. After you find Shaft, you will venture to the center of the world to stop Klith. I will assign someone to you to help you. He will guide you."

"And Toni."

"No matter what Klith offers you, do not accept. I will keep her safe."

-Notch

At that last word, the entire hall erupted in shouts and screams.

Jax grabbed me by the wrist and led me out of the hall, and I glanced behind me as everyone continued to yell and ask questions.

I closed my eyes.

How?

How could this happen?

I wasn't a brave warrior. I wasn't a valient and noble knight. I wasn't even a reckless rule breaker, like Cal.

I was just a kid.

A nobody.

A goody-two-shoes that always followed the rules.

How could I be the reincarnated soul of Herobrine, the sheer embodiment of mischief?

_How?_

I opened my eyes.

Jax was standing before me.

He looked sorry for me.

I _hated it _when people felt sorry for me.

I pushed past him and ran through the halls.

I didn't know where I was going.

But I didn't care.

I just wanted to get away.

Away from all this stress.

Away from everything.

Suddenly I was outside.

I sighed and plopped down cross legged on the grass.

"Cal..."

"I miss you."

* * *

**Jeez, this chapter was pretty dramatic.**

**Sorry for not uploading, but what with all the final tests coming up...**

**Anyways, this chapter was also not the best. But hey, it's a chapter, and it still deserves to be uploaded.**

**So anyways, there's really nothing else to say about this chapter.**

**So...**

**_Krios_ out.**


	5. Calliope: I Kill A Pigman With A Tree

I Kill A Pigman With A Tree

* * *

Calliope

* * *

The invasion happened at night time.

I was peacefully sleeping in bed when my mom yelled at me, "GET UP!"

I flew up one block into the air while staying lying down, literally. I have no idea how I managed that at all.

I sat up and stared at Mom. She appeared pretty agitated and panicked.

"Get up, Calli! The pigmen are invading!"

I just looked at her and fell backwards onto my bed. It was probably a false alarm. Last time 'the pigmen had invaded', it had just turned out to be a normal pig. And the time before that, it was a man wearing dyed pink armor and a gold sword.

At least, that's what I thought before a fireball plowed through the window and smashed into the floor inches from my head.

I shrieked and flipped sideways off the bed and smashed awkwardly into the ground, but I quickly got up.

"SEE!? Come on, we need to go!"

I ran around the fire and sprinted out of the house with my mother just a block behind me, but I stopped. "Wait! What about Toni? And Dad?"

"Toni's room was on fire, and I couldn't get past!"

"_WHAT!? _You _LEFT HER THERE!?_ _DID YOU EVEN TRY TO PUT OUT THE FIRE!?_" I shrieked, turning to face Mom.

And I saw her get knocked to the ground by a wither skeleton.

"No!" I yelled.

Mom stared desperately at me. "Run, Calli! Go without me!"

Like hell I was.

I ran forward to help her, only to be blocked by a pigman. The pigman snarled and menacingly held a golden sword above it's head.

As much as I wanted to help her, trying to help would just get both of us killed. Now I understood why she'd left Toni.

I stumbled backwards, and ran.

I ran into the park. There was a pool there. Maybe if I jumped into the pool, the pigmen wouldn't follow me?

It was definitely a stretch, but it was all I had.

But that changed when I saw my dad facing off against a man with what looked to be a big...hoe?

Before I could figure out what the guy was doing with a hoe, Dad yelled, "Calli! NO!"

I stared in shock just in time to see the dull end of the hoe spinning towards me.

It smashed into my face, and I was lifted off the ground for a second by the sheer force of the blow.

I landed on my back, but I was already drifting off into dreamland.

_Hoes are daaangerous, _I drowsily thought before everything went black.

!-V-!

When I woke up, everything was red.

I'm not exaggerating here. The floor I was lying on? Red. The walls around me? Also red. The ceiling? You guessed it-red. Even the air felt a little red, if you know what I mean.

It wasn't even bright red. It was more like really dark red.

Of course, there was a reason that the whole place was red. It was because, in fact, the place that I had woken up in was made out of nether brick. Who would have known?

Actually, I wished I'd dyed my hair aqua blue instead of dark red. It would have stood out like a diamond in a pile of coal.

Thankfully, the lights were not redstone torches, or I would have freaked out. They were redstone lamps, although having prismarine lanterns would have been much better on the eyes.

The second thing I noticed was the clothes I wore. I was wearing an orange jumpsuit with a tag that had a number on it-093.

And then I noticed the people that were here.

Most just looked relatively normal. Except for the fact that they were all wearing an orange jumpsuit with a number on it, always a three digit number.

"Well...welcome to the cell, newbie." a tired voice said. I didn't remember standing up, but I was suddenly on my feet. I turned to see a tired looking old man.

"I'm Jerry." the old man extended his hand. "I'm...well, not the leader, but...just the man who acts as decision-maker."

He pointed to a young boy, about the same age as me. "That's Phoenix. He's a charmer, and the youngest one here. She's Jaiden. She used to be a gardener...at least before she got captured. He's Caren. He was a traveling merchant, used to get a lot of emeralds, at least before he walked into a village that was being captured by a fleet of blazes. And that's Jin, he loved to fish until he got captured, and then we have..." he smiled kindly. "You. What's your name?"

"Where's my mom?" I asked, ignoring the question.

All of the prisoners looked at each other.

"Dear, you were the only one tossed in here today." Jaiden said.

My face must have went pale, because Caren smiled at me. "Don't worry. This isn't the only cell. There's about a thousand other cells, and I'm not exaggerating. The size of this place...well, it's huge. It's unlikely that your mother's dead. Just in another cell somewhere."

I exhaled in relief. So she wasn't dead. That was one big question answered.

Now to the next big question.

"Calliope."

Jerry blinked. "Huh?"

"Calliope. That's my name. But unless I say otherwise, it's Cal. Possibly Calli."

The old man smiled. "Good. Cal. Has a nice ring to it."

I smiled charmingly. "Glad we got that cleared up. Now, how do we get out of here?"

The temperature seemed to drop ninety degrees, which was weird because we were in the Nether.

Jerry's smile vanished. "Excuse me?"

"Escape. You know. Get out of here." I explained. "Like, duh."

Jin frowned. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but no ones ever escaped this place."

I frowned. "How do you know? Have you even tried?"

Phoenix wrinkled his brow. "You don't think we haven't tried?"

"Ten months ago, cell fifty to thirty five tried to fight back. Complete massacre. A year ago, cell one hundred to six hundred staged a jailbreak. We almost escaped. But the ghasts stopped them."

I stood there, stunned. "But what about the window right there? We could break the window and-"

"Why do you think they took all of our stuff?" Jin said. For the first time, I noticed that nothing was in my inventory except for a few dirt blocks, some bone meal, and a sapling.

"They take everything that they think will be useful and leave over anything that's useless. They take wood blocks. Cobblestone. Sticks. Even buckets." Jerry said.

"We could lure the guards in and then attack them?" I said.

"You think the wither skeletons are that foolish?" Jaiden said with a sad face.

"We-" I tried desprately.

"Admit it, Cal. There's no way out." Caren said.

I scowled. "Fine. So you guys have already given up. Well, I won't rest until I find a way out of here."

At that point everyone just kind of gave up trying to convince me and just sat back, watching me running around the place trying to find a secret passageway, or a loose brick that I could hit the guards with, or-

Oh god, I would even settle for a bucket right now!

Eventually, I sat down and rested on the ground. Phoenix watched me in interest.

"I thought you were looking for a way out," he said. "Did you give up now?"

I scowled. "No. I'm resting. As soon as I get my breath back, I'm going to keep looking."

But before that happened, an alarm blared, and I jumped into the air.

"What-what's going on?" I asked. Secretly I hoped a robotic voice would say something like, 'PERIMETER BREACHED BY A BUNCH OF HANDSOME HEROES THAT ARE ABOUT TO KICK BUTT AND SAVE EVERYONE.'

But unfortunately, no one seemed worried.

"Don't worry. It's just the pigmen choosing who to toss into the arena and kill in cold blood." yawned Caren.

I paled. "What?"

Jin frowned. "Caren, you're so freaking blunt. Look at her, she looks like she's about to faint."

"Arena?" I said, still slightly pale.

"Yeah, everyday the pigmen come to choose one prisoner to fight a pigman in the arena. Well, I say fight. It's really more like 'cowering behind a pillar in fear, hoping the pigman doesn't see you'."

I stared at everyone. "Aren't you guys worried _at all?_"

Jaiden shrugged. "Hey, there are a thousand cells here with an equal amount of people. Getting chosen to fight is like winning the lottery...except you don't _want _to win."

I sighed. "I suppose. But are you sure-"

Jerry smiled reassuringly. "Cell 647 hasn't been chosen in years. Don't worry, you'll be-"

_Bang._

We all jumped at the sound of the banging of a cell door.

I slowly turned around.

And I saw a pigman with gold armor and a sword in the doorway.

The pigman scanned the room and spotted me. His face twisted in a cruel smile.

I turned pale. "I-I thought-"

The pigman bounded across the room in two strides and yanked my feet out from under me. I yelped and hit the floor hard.

"You jinxed meeeeee!" I yelled as the pigman dragged me out of the cell.

The last thing I heard was Jerry saying "Oh, dear. I was starting to warm up to her."

!-V-!

Being dragged across the ground for probably ten minutes was rather embarassing and my back hurt from being dragged across the hard and rough nether brick floor.

Eventually I came to some sort of cell and got dumped unceremoniously on the ground.

The pigman backed out and slammed the door shut.

I groaned and sat up. I gingerly touched my back and winced. I took in my surroundings.

There were two benches on the wall, the door that I'd come through, and another door that probably led to the arena on the far side of the cell.

_So this is the place you eagerly wait to be executed. Great._

Then, with a screech that assaulted my ears, the door leading to the arena swung open by itself.

I slowly got to my feet. I heard the roaring of a crowd.

I cautiously stepped out.

And I found myself in the most biggest space I'd ever been in.

The arena itself must have been fifty blocks wide at least. And I know that doesn't sound very big, but it is.

And don't even get me started on the length. It was probably a hundred blocks or so, judging by the distance.

And surrounding the arena was a whole bunch of stands with pigmen, blazes, and wither skeletons alike all watching, eagerly cheering.

"What in the..." I said, surprised.

I turned around to see some sort of screen composed entirely of redstone lamps, and it was focused on me.

When I moved, the screen up above followed my movement. I hesitantly raised my hand. The Calliope on the screen also raised her hand.

"Wow...is that even possible with redstone?" I said, surprised.

But suddenly, the image on the screen changed to that of an angry pigman.

I blinked. "The heck...?"

I glanced away from the screen to see the pigman on the screen all the way on the other side of the arena, just a pink speck among all the mobs and the nether brick and the dirt floor.

"No way..." I said. "No w..."

"_LADIES AND GENTLEMOBS, LET THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE WEEK...BEGIN!_" a deep voice bellowed.

I clapped my hands over my ears and spun around angrily, trying to find the speaker.

I suddenly stopped to stare at the screen. The pigman on the screen was charging at me, a gleeful look on its face.

Which meant...

I slowly turned to see the pink dot that represented the pigman getting closer and closer...

I paled.

"Oh...no..."

I turned and started to frantically yank on the door handle to no effect.

The pigman was getting closer.

I set my feet on the wall and pulled as hard as I could.

The door didn't move. Not an inch.

I turned to see the pigman barreling towards me.

I yelped and dived out of the way as the pigman's sword struck the spot my head had just been before.

I got to my feet and ran. I ran as hard as I could, but the pigman was on my tail and was wildly swinging at me, barely managing to nick the back of my jumpsuit.

I stopped in my tracks, ducked, and stuck out my foot.

The pigman ran straight past me, tripped on my foot and smashed into the ground. The crowd shrieked.

I backed up a few steps as the pigman slowly got to its feet. It turned around and glared at me. It was no longer smiling.

"What's wrong, porky?" I taunted. "Mad?"

Ok, so that wasn't the smartest idea.

The pigman charged, catching me off guard, and slammed into me, knocking me backwards onto the ground.

I tried desperately to draw in a breath, but the pigman had really knocked the air out of me. I tried to stand, but my legs didn't appear to be working.

I was going to die.

The pigman smiled triumphantly and raised its sword.

And then I thought of Toni.

Who was probably dead right now. I'm not proud of it, but I honestly believed she was dead then.

I had to survive.

For Toni.

"For."

"My."

"SISTER!"

And on that final word I launched off the ground and delivered a powerful uppercut to the pigman, lifting him off his feet.

The pigman smashed into the ground.

The crowd roared in disbelief, and the pigman unsteadily got to its feet.

_Man, this guy does not give up._ I thought solemnly.

_So I shouldn't either._

I backed up, but not out of fear. This time, I was making an...erm...strategic retreat.

_What do I have?_ I internally thought.

Well, I had a bunch of dirt blocks, a bunch of bone meal and a sapling. So unless I could smack the guy with a tree...

That gave me an idea.

"Hey, porky! Are you a pigman or a ghast, because you look like a crybaby!" I yelled.

I didn't think the crowd could hear me, but the crowd yelled, "OOOHH!"

The ghasts floating above didn't look very amused, though.

The pigman snarled and pointed it's sword at me. It said in a raspy voice, "You have just spelled your death, girl."

"Yeah, well, I spelled it for you because I figured you couldn't spell it yourself." I tilted my head. "Should I teach you how to spell cat, too?"

The pigman's eye twitched. "You-"

I stepped forward and slammed the sapling down. I was lucky that the floor was dirt instead of nether brick, or my plan wouldn't have worked.

"Even this sapling could beat you, you're so weak!" I taunted.

The pigman howled. "YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO THAT PIECE OF GARBAGE?"

"Yes. And I bet that this sapling agrees how stupid you are."

And with that final insult, the pigman screamed and ran towards me. It swung its sword. I dodged out of the way, and the sword sliced off one of my bangs.

I stared in surprise as the clump of hair fell to the ground.

That surprise turned to anger.

I stepped back and flipped him off.

The pigman screamed and dived at me.

I pulled out my bone meal and dumped all of it on the sapling just as the pigman stepped on the sapling.

Green sparks flew, and the tree suddenly extended into the air, a fully grown tree, launching the pigman into the air.

The pigman shrieked as he fell through the air and smashed into the ground.

Oh, and did I mention that the tree was a spruce tree, which is a particularly big tree? It would have been a one shot kill if it had been a jungle tree, but oh well. You gotta make do with what you have.

The pigman smashed into the dirt floor hard, shaving off a ton of health.

The sword dropped to the ground in front of me.

I picked it up and strode over to the pigman, who cowered away from me.

I raised the sword in the air.

"Like I said, weak."

I brought the sword down.

* * *

**Whaaaaaaat? A chapter from the perspective of Toni's sister?**

**Yeah, I decided to make a chapter from the perspective of Calliope because, I figured, why not?**

**And I know, I'm a jerk for not uploading sooner, but a lot of stuff came up and I wasn't prepared for it.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will also be from Cal's POV.**

**_Krios_ out.**


	6. I'm Transferred To Another Prison

**IM SORRY DONT KILL ME**

**Yeah, it's been a month since I've updated. Yes, I know. I'm a douche. **

**Would you guys believe me if I said I didn't have the time for it?**

**Probably not.**

**Anyways, here's the chapter you've been waiting for.**

**Don't kill me.**

**_Krios_**

* * *

I'm Transferred To Another Prison

I got the feeling that the pigmen were slightly wary of me when they escorted me back to my cell.

My cellmates, upon seeing me, bolted to their feet.

"Cal!" Jerry said cheerfully. "Dear, your legs must be so tired."

I slowly blinked. "What?"

"You know, from running! From the pigman that tried to kill you!"

I blinked again. "Uh...actually, I _killed _said pigman."

Silence.

Jaiden stared at me blankly. "What?"

I was annoyed. "Seriously, is this not that common?"

They ignored me. "The last person to do it...one decade ago..."

I sighed in exasperation. "No...freakin...way. I am the first one. The first one. In a decade. To kill a simple _pigman?_"

"Well, most of us were busy running for our lives." Phoenix said, his eyebrow raised in intrigue.

I sighed. "So...you guys are wimps?"

Jin scowled. "I think there is a more dignified term than 'wimps', but-"

"So yes."

No answer.

I sighed. "Maybe I should just launch a full grown tree through the wall. That would certainly cause a panic."

And then I heard it.

It was two people arguing.

Coming right towards us.

Slowly, two pigmen came into view, arguing agitatedly. Well, one of them was arguing. The other seemed to be ignoring him.

"You can't take that girl, Patch! She is the property of the-"

"Shut up, porkchop."

"Stop calling me that! And stop ignoring me! Hey! Heeeey!"

The pigman launched himself at 'Patch', and got shrugged off like he was a fly.

I glanced at the others, and they shrugged. This hadn't happened before.

Patch stopped at our cell.

Everyone turned pale except for me.

Patch grinned. "Hello there, missy."

"Call me missy again and I'll stuff a tree up your face."

His grin grew wider. "Attitude. I like that."

He pulled out a key and fit it in the lock.

"Wh-how did you get that!?" the other pigman screeched.

"You don't pay enough attention, porkchop. Makes it easy for people like me."

"T-thief!" Porkchop spluttered. "P-pickpocket!"

Patch snarled and turned on Porkchop. "You're starting to get on my last nerve, porkchop."

He pulled a paper out of his inventory and pretty much stuffed it up Porkchop's nose. "Do you see this!? DO YOU?"

"No, I can't." came the muffled voice.

He growled and moved the paper away from his face. The pigman squinted at the paper. I got the feeling that if he had glasses, he would have adjusted them.

The pigman's expression changed from exasperated to awed to completely terrified.

"Yeah, that's right. That's Entity 303's Seal."

At that, Jerry nearly fainted but was caught by Phoenix.

I paled. Entity 303? But that meant...

"Which means I have the permission to bust her runty butt out of that cell. From the very top!"

"Hey!" I interjected. Both pigmen turned to look at me.

"You do know I'm right here, right? What am I, chopped liver?"

Behind me, everyone was frantically gesturing for me to shut up, but it was too late.

Patch scowled. "I'm taking her and I'm leaving."

The pigman opened and closed his mouth like a fish but made no move to stop her.

Patch tossed open the door and beckoned me over.

I reluctantly walked over to the pigman. I walked out of the cell and the door slammed shut behind me.

I glanced behind me to see my cellmates staring after me in complete shock.

I stared forward as I walked to my doom.

?-V-?

I stared. "You want me to get in a storage room?"

"Yeah," Patch snarled. "So I can tie you up without anyone noticing."

I sighed and stepped in. Patch squeezed through the door and slammed it shut.

He pulled out a rope and started tying me up.

I stared at my shoelaces and thought of my sister. and my mother, who was probably lying completely terrified in a cell.

And then I got an idea.

"Can you untie me for a second?" I asked innocently.

He stopped. "What?"

"One of my shoes are untied and it's really annoying...I don't like it when one of my shoes are tied and the other isn't..."

Patch grunted and bent over.

"No, no, no. I can't let _you_ do it. You'd probably tie a granny knot." I said.

He scowled. "I'm not a granny."

"So let me tie it."

He growled and untied me.

Grinning, I bent over.

Little did he know that I was actually tying my shoelaces together.

Now for step two.

"EEEEEEKKK!" I yelled, which made the pigman jump and hit his head.

"What now?" the pigman snarled.

"It's a bug!" I yelled. I pointed to an imaginary bug. "Eeeeewww! I hate bugs!"

Patch growled in annoyance. "I don't see any bug."

"You need to look closer." I said, feigning terror.

He bent over to look for the bug.

I discreetly pulled off my shoes.

And now...step three.

I yelled and jumped onto the pigman's back. Patch straightened up and bellowed in fury.

I wrapped my shoes around his neck twice and yanked hard.

Patch stumbled around the room, toppling shelves and crushing chests.

He slammed me into the wall, trying to beat me off.

I gasped as most of the air in my lungs left my body, but still I held on.

Patch was running out of air.

His attempts to wrench me off his back were becoming increasingly feeble.

"This is for Toni," I hissed and yanked the string harder.

"Toni-" gagged the pigman.

"Don't you _dare _speak that name!" I snarled, and yanked harder.

"Toni-is-alive!" choked Patch.

My grip on the shoe lace slackened. "What?"

Before I could finish the job, Patch reached behind his back, grabbed my arms, and swung me off his back into the wall.

I yelled in pain when I hit the wall.

I collapsed in a heap onto the ground. I tried to stand up but got held down by Patch's foot.

The pigman stared at me, his expression dark.

Then he brought his fists down.

Everything went black.

?-V-?

When I woke up, I was tied to a chair.

A dozen pigmen surrounded me, all of them holding swords. Behind the pigmen were two dozen blazes, all floating around and making metallic wheezing noises.

"Wow," I said. "Overkill, much? I feel so special."

"Shut up." growled a pigman who I recognized as Patch.

I focused on him and him only. "What do you want?"

He grinned evilly. "All we'll do are run a few tests and we'll let you go right afterwards."

"Yeah, sure you'll let me go-you'll let go of my hand when I'm hovering over a pool of lava!" I retorted. "Do I look like an idiot? You're obviously not planning on letting me go unscathed. And if you want me to do what you want, _which I won't, _maybe wipe that evil grin off your face. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

Luckily, he stopped grinning, which was a relief.

However, he did put a knife to my neck, which was kind of a red flag.

"Listen here, missy. You're going to do what we say or else we'll-" he started.

"You'll what? By my guess, you can't kill me, because you need me. And I'm not being vain. So what can you do?" I sneered.

Weirdly, he grinned.

"Oh, crap. He's grinning again. Someone get me a bucket."

"You're right-we can't kill you. But we can kill someone else."

That line made me bolt up.

He flipped a switch.

I heard some sort of grinding noise that made my eardrums want to die. One of the pigmen turned me around.

I turned pale.

In front of me was a window.

And on the other side of the window was Toni, tied up and gagged.

"Toni!" I yelled.

A pigman entered the room and pulled out a knife.

"NO!" I screamed. "_NO!_"

"Not so cocky now, are you?" Patch said with a smirk.

Needless to say, I went beserk.

I kicked one of the pigmen so hard that the monster slammed headfirst into the glass, cracking it.

In doing so, I propelled myself backwards and by some miracle of fate, got my ropes sliced off by one of the pigmen's sword.

I sprang to my feet, picked up my chair, and smashed it over the monster's head.

The blazes advanced, ready to cook me into a nice Calliope steak.

"NO!" screamed Patch. "You can't kill her! If you do, we'll all be executed!"

The blaze's hesitation was all I needed. I picked up a sword, ran one of the pigmen through. Then I swiveled and sliced a blaze in half.

The remaining nine pigmen advanced, ready to beat me into submission, including Patch, who looked murderous.

It was ten against one. Who would win was obvious.

I knew what I had to do.

"Don't come any closer, or-or-" I stammered.

"Or what? You'll kill us? Look around you, missy. You're surrounded."

"No. I'll do the opposite." I said, my sword hand shaking.

Patch narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What is the opposite, then?" Patch sneered.

I sucked in a huge breath and turned my sword around so that the sharp end was pointing at my chest.

"I'll kill myself."

The pigmen all looked at each other nervously.

"No you won't." said the big pigman. "She's obviously bluffing. I mean, look at her. Look how afraid she is. Nice try, girl."

He took a step towards me.

I pushed the sword against my chest so hard I drew blood.

He stopped.

"T-this is madness! Put down that sword!" Patch said nervously.

"No." I said, forcing my voice to stay calm. "_You _put down that sword. Or else, this girl gets it." I pointed to myself.

"Y-you wouldn't." Patch said, though he looked slightly worried. He then tried for a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. Heck, that ugly expression made me want to stab myself.

"We'll k-k-kill your sister." stuttered Patch.

But something in his eyes...

...I knew he wasn't telling the truth.

"You're lying." I said calmly. "You need my sister." The evil mob reeled back like he'd been burned, which technically wasn't possible, but simile's aren't always accurate, leave me alone.

"Come closer. I dare you." I said, my voice shaking. "I'll do it! I really will!"

Patch slowly backed away.

I began to lower the sword.

"Now, free me and my sister. Now. Or else-"

Patch lunged forward, catching me off guard.

Without thinking, I did it.

I plunged the sword into my chest.

* * *

**Yes, we're ending with a cliffhanger. Don't murder me, ok? I'm going to upload a chapter again soon, I swear!**

**...**

**Ah, who am I kidding. You might have to wait a little when it comes to me. I'm sorry, but reading this fanfic requires patience.**

**Why am I even apologizing anyways?**

**...**

**Sorry.**

**_Krios_**


	7. If You Give A Dragon Bacon

**Bet you can't 'Patch' Cal's wound up! HA!**

**...**

**Too soon?**

**Might just be me, but I think I'm rushing into the action too quick.**

**After I wrote the chapter of Calliope stabbing herself (that's the most depressing sentence ever) I kind of thought, 'Huh. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the suspense.'**

**I wasn't originally going to have Cal shank herself, but it just popped into my head for some reason.**

**Brain: Hey, why don't we have Cal stab herself for suspense?**

**Me: Uh, that seems a little-**

**Brain: Do it.**

**Me: Um...**

**Brain: DO IT.**

**Yeah, that seems about right.**

**Anyways, here's another chapter.**

_**Krios**_

* * *

Yes, Dragons Like Bacon

You may be asking:

Gee, Calliope, how did it feel to stab yourself?

It hurt.

What did you expect?

As for Patch, he was currently lying on the floor in the fetal position sobbing.

Well, not really. But that pretty much described him at the moment.

"What the hell are we going to do!?" Patch screeched. "We can't bring her to the boss if she dies!"

"Relax, boss." one of the pigmen said. "She's not dead. She just has a sword in her. We can pull it out. Look, she only lost six and a half hearts."

What!? My insides felt like someone was forging them together with a blaze rod and I only lost six and a half hearts!?

The pigman walked up to me and wrenched the sword out of my chest, removing another heart.

I screamed and practically clawed the pigman's face off with my nails.

"OW!" the pigman yelled. "You little brat!"

The pigman reared back, ready to kick me.

"Stop!" Patch bellowed. "She only has two and a half hearts left, moron! What do you think will happen if she dies!?"

The pigman stopped and glared at Patch, but backed away.

I groaned and hunched over in pain. It felt like someone had shot me through the chest with a flaming arrow of poison.

"Listen, girl." Patch snarled. "For that your sister's going to pay." He turned towards the window and paled.

At first I didn't understand what he was so worried about. I glanced at the window.

Then I realized.

At first the scene looked completely normal. Until you realized-

Nothing was moving.

I'm not exaggerating. Nothing was moving on the other side of the window. Then the 'window' flickered.

That 'window' was a screen.

Which meant that it wasn't a window.

Which meant that nothing beyond that 'window' was real.

Patch stared at me, fury etched in his face.

The fact that Toni's kidnap was fake meant that Patch couldn't control me. And another plus-Patch couldn't kill me. Heck, he couldn't even slap me without killing me.

I grinned at him. "What's wrong? Mad?"

Patch yanked me off the ground and lifted me into the air by my collar.

"Listen, girl." he mumbled in my ear. "When we get back to the nether fortress, we'll make you drink a healing potion, and then we'll let loose on you. We will torture you until you'll want to die. So you will do what we say. NOW."

Despite being two blocks above the floor, I smirked at him. "Sounds tempting, but I'm busy until Friday. How's Saturday?"

He roared in my face, and I could tell he was trying really hard not to toss me across the room and repeatedly stomp on my face.

"FINE. We're taking you to Hell's Tree. And don't even think about running away." Patch snarled.

I wasn't sure, but 'Hell's Tree' sounded like a place I wouldn't want to go to for summer vacation.

"Alright, everyone! We're leaving this place! Everyone, move!" Patch bellowed.

One of the pigmen pulled out a rope and tied my arms behind my back. He yanked me across the room, and I just about caught myself from faceplanting on the hot nether brick floor.

I shot a death glare at the pigman with the rope, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he just smirked.

Everyone in the interogation room cleared out, and the problem was I was getting dragged along with them.

We started walking in the general direction of south, though I couldn't tell. We could have been walking north-east for all I knew.

But as we walked across the baking netherrack, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me...

?-V-?

After walking for what seemed like a mile, the blaze in front of me stopped, and I made the mistake of walking straight into the blaze.

"Ow!" I yelped, and leaped backwards. The blaze was hot, and I didn't want to get any more hot than I already was.

Patch turned and scowled at the offending blaze. "What is it? Why did you stop?"

The blaze glanced warily around. "Call me crazy, but I feel like something's following us."

Patch rolled his eyes. "It's probably just a bored ghast following us for kicks. Come _on._ We're nearly there."

"No, it isn't that." the blaze insisted. "I feel like something's watching us. I've been feeling it since we left the interrogation room."

"It's probably just you."

"Yeah, I agree. It's probably just-_hey, wait a second! Who just said that?_" Patch yelped.

The pigmen drew their swords, and fireballs materialized in front of the blazes.

Silence.

"Oh, well." Patch said. "It was probably just a trick of the-"

"**_RRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!_**"

Completely out of nowhere, a fireball flew at Patch and blasted him backwards.

Everyone turned to see...

"Wait, is that a _DRAGON?" _I said incredulously.

Suddenly, a _dragon_ flew out of nowhere and slammed into the front row of pigmen, sending them flying.

The blazes fired fireballs at the dragon in a panic, but the dragon simply batted the fireballs away with it's tail back at the blazes, knocking most of them out of the air.

Then a man wearing a mask leaped off the back of the dragon and drew two scimitars out of his inventory.

The pigmen turned to face him, but before they could do anything the dragon blasted the pigmen with violet flames, vaporizing them.

Meanwhile, the pigman that had been holding my rope yelped and started to back away nervously, but before the pigman could do anything the man threw the scimitar, slicing through the ropes and impaling the pigman through the head.

I picked up the scimitar sword, spun around, and impaled one of the blazes, then turned and sliced another in half.

The dragon clamped it's jaws down on a pigman and then shook it around.

The man got in front of me and pushed me back.

"Stay down and stay behind me." He said.

"Hey!" I objected. "I can fight, you know!"

"I SAID STAY DOWN!"

He pushed me down just as the dragon let loose an enormous blast of flames, vaporizing all of the pigmen and blazes in front of him. Violet flames engulfed the man, but his body shielded me, making sure that no fire got to me.

The flames vanished, and the man straightened.

"You're not on fire," I said dumbly.

He stared at me. "No, I'm not. This is enchanted specifically for end flames."

Like I was supposed to know that.

Before I could gather my thoughts, I felt an enormous shred of agony rip through my body. I screamed in pain as a golden sword ripped through my back.

_Really, again?_

I sank to my knees. Everything was blurry, and my vision was spinning like I had the Nausea effect.

I vaguely heard Patch saying something. My hearing cleared. My vision remained wonky, however.

"...when master gets his hands on you, I'll be paid quite a lot of money. I'll be rich!"

I groaned. "Mother of Notch, I feel like I'm about to vomit."

Actually, what really came out was "Mofer of Nogh, ah fel luch um aba t vait."

But you get what I'm trying to say.

The mystery man, (yes we are calling him that) was not listening to my mumbling, however. He was talking to his dragon friend, completely ignoring Patch and me.

"Hey! I'm talking hereeee_eeeee..._" Patch trailed off in fear as the dragon turned to look at him.

Before you could say 'Whee' the dragon's tail flew out of nowhere and smashed into the pigman, sending him flying away into the lava.

"Whew. That was tiring." The mystery man took off his mask and tossed it on the ground.

I stared at him. The 'man' was actually a 'teen', about the same age as me. He had auburn hair and bright green eyes that seemed to sparkle with laughter. He was also wearing a leather jacket, which makes everyone wearing it 55% more cooler looking.

And he was also amazingly handsome.

I rolled my eyes. "Why would you be tired? Your dragon literally did all the work for you. You must be spoiled if—"

"I am not _spoiled!_" the mystery teen protested. "I am a very respected bounty hunter by the name of—" he stopped.

I raised my eyebrow. "_Reeeeeaaally?_" I said. "A bounty hunter, huh?"

He blinked. "I just said that."

I sighed. "Here I was hoping I'd been saved by a heroic prince going my the name of Prince Arthur the...Fourth. Or something equally cliché like that."

He scowled. "Hey! I am a very _popular _bounty hunter, you know! I'm-" He stopped. "What's so bad about being a bounty hunter, huh?"

"Well," I started. "You bounty hunters only care for yourselves, all you want is money, and you don't capture criminals out of the goodness of your heart."

"I am _none of those!_" the person said in exasperation. "_Seriously!_"

I stared at him hard.

He sighed. "Ok, the money may be a bonus, but for real! I'm not like the others. I mean, I just saved your life! Which, now that I think about it, shouldn't you be thanking me right now?"

I rolled my eyes.

"_Uh, you're welcome!_"

I sighed and grinned at him. "Well, thanks, anyways."

He grinned back at me. "You're welcome. Now let's get out of this hell hole."

I blinked. "Say...how did you even get your dragon into the Nether, anyways?"

"...don't ask."

?-V-?

Riding the dragon sucked.

It felt like I was riding a very dangerous and very uncomfortable rollercoaster. Once we swerved to dodge a ghast, and I nearly flew off the back of the enderdragon.

After a few minutes of flying through the hot Nether, I asked mystery teen, "What's this dragon's name?"

He glanced back at me. "His name is Shell. I'm Dan. Hold on."

"Hold wh_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!_" I screamed as Shell suddenly went into a dive. We plummeted towards the ground while I held on for dear life.

Just when I thought we were going to plow into the netherrack and die, Shell straightened and we landed on the ground with a mighty _thump._

I groaned and rolled off Shell. "Couldn't we have landed a little softer?"

Dan frowned. "I don't control him."

I stared blankly at him. "Well, then how do you get him to go where you want?"

"Well, I dunno...I sort of...speak to him, I guess." Dan said awkwardly.

I snorted. "So you're what, a dragon whisperer?"

He glared at me. "Well, I wouldn't use _that _phrase..."

I sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll call you whatever you want me to call you."

"Awesome?"

"No."

"Amazing?"

"No."

"Dashingly handsome?"

I considered. "Eh, I'll give that one a solid _maybe._"

Dan smiled at me, and suddenly I was aware of how dirty and dumb I looked. Usually I wasn't self-conscious, but...

_Arrrgh, stop feeling stupid, Calliope!_

"Ok." I said just to break the silence. I regretted it immediately after.

He blinked. "Ok what?"

I scowled. "Ok nothing. Dan, do you know anywhere I can get the ingredients for a TNT cannon?"

Dan chuckled. "Well, what are you planning to do with that TNT cannon? Wreak havoc on the ones that imprisioned you?"

"Yes, actually." I said simply. "Wait. _Do _you even know what the ingredients for a TNT cannon are?"

His smile vanished. "Wait. You're serious?"

"I just said that."

He stared at me. "Uh, no. That is a terrible idea. Such a horrible idea that I can only wonder how such a beautiful and intelligent looking girl can come up with such a stupid plan."

I resisted the urge to say '_You really mean that?_' "Don't flatter me. I'm going to destroy that prison whether you like it or not."

"They'll murder you! They'll roast you on a stick! You can't go alone!" he protested. "You don't even have a real plan!"

I flashed him a charming smile. "Or _you _could come with me."

He scowled. "Oh, no. Not even a dragon could smash down that prison. Shell would get pulverized. Do you have any idea how lucky you are that I just happened to come along?"

I blinked. "Say, why _did _you come here?"

"That's none of your business!" Dan glowered.

I sighed and marched up to him. I shoved my finger into his face. "You don't know what it feels like to have someone you love taken from you. My dad is missing, my mother is rotting in some third-grade prison, and my sister is gone. You have _no _idea how I feel."

At that, a look of extreme fury crossed his face. "Excuse me? _I _don't know? You don't even know me and you're already making assumptions about me?"

I was slightly taken aback. "If you've truly experienced this before, you know how it feels, and you know that I need to get my mother back."

We both glowered at each other until Shell growled and whipped the ground with his tail.

Dan pulled back and turned away. "Fine. But if you want to break them out you'll need help. Not just me." He started placing obsidian.

"Wait." I stopped him. "Who are we talking about?"

He turned and glared at me. "My crew."

He turned forwards again. "We're seeing the other bounty hunters."


	8. Toni: Jared Gets Salty

Jared Gets Salty

"Just pick one. Any one."

Jax had taken me to the armory to pick a weapon, but I was having a hard time deciding.

There was a spiked ball on a stick, which was called a flail. I stared at it.

_Nah. I'd probably drop it on my foot or something._

There was a spear there. I wiped the dust off it.

_Nope. I'd kill my teammates by accident long before I killed any mob._

A spiked club? No. An battle axe? Too heavy. An enormous hammer? _Way _too heavy.

Eventually I just settled for a double edged sword. It kind of felt awkward in my hands, but Jax was getting impatient and I didn't want to annoy him. He was ready to snap under the stress if anyone talked to him. He'd been muttering to himself ever since yesterday's 'announcement', stuffing his bag full of items and then throwing them out and then putting them back in again.

In fact, I hadn't even begun to start packing yet.

"Hey, Jax. I'm going to go pack my stuff." I told him.

"Yeah, you have fun out there." Jax mumbled, staring at a long list of stuff.

I stared at him. "Well, I'm going to go fly to the Moon and have lunch with a bunch of flying chickens. Be right back."

"Yeah, you do that." Jax mumbled again. He combed his hair agitatedly with his fingers. "Did I pack a toothbrush? No, I don't think I did."

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room. I had only walked halfway down the hallway when I paused.

_Do I remember where my room is?_

I turned and started walking back towards the armory. "Hey, Jax? I-"

Before I could say anything else, a hand reached out and yanked me into a room.

I shrieked and lashed out, and hit something in the face.

"Ow!" someone yelled. I turned, wrenching my arm out of the person's hand as I did.

It was Jared. That jerk that had been annoying Jax the other day.

He just glared at me, rubbing his shoulder.

I tried to get out, but two other guys I hadn't noticed before blocked my way and grabbed both of my arms.

I struggled and tried to escape, but it was like trying to move bedrock-impossible.

Jared just stared at me, his eyes narrowed to slits.

It was actually getting kind of creepy.

"Uh, are you going to say something?" I asked. "Cause I'm kind of short on time. You know...quest business and all that."

"Eight years." Jared growled. "I've been here for eight years and Notch hasn't sent any signs or any messages that show he even knows I exist. Not _one_ _single time._"

'_That's probably because he doesn't talk to selfish, annoying and stupid prats like you._' I wanted to say, but since I preferred my arms not broken, I kept those words to myself.

He aggressively strode towards me and got right up in my face. "You are just a _scared little girl. _A _nobody. _An _orphan, _for God's sake. And yet you just swoop in and steal the spot light!" Jared snarls.

That 'orphan' comment really cuts deep into me, and before I can stop myself I snarl right back, "That's because the spot light was never on _you_ in the first place, because no one in their right mind would bear looking at that face."

Jared's eyes narrow.

_Oookaaay, so that was the wrong thing to say._

He pulls out a golden sword. "Do you have a weapon?" he asks.

"Uh...yeeees?" I say nervously.

"Good." he smirks.

And then he charges.

?-?-?

His two goons let go of my arm and push me forward.

I yelp and barely dodge out of the way. I slip out my sword and swing, but he's already gone.

Suddenly my legs are kicked out from under me, and as I go down I see him grinning evilly.

I land on my back hard on the carpet floor. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is this truly you trying your hardest?" Jared says mockingly.

I roll out of the way just as his sword slams into the spot my stomach had just been in.

_What the-is he trying to kill me?_

"Oh, well. At least you tried, and that's all that matters."

I get back up only to have my feet sweeped out from underneath me again.

"Or maybe not."

I lash out violently with my foot and connect with Jared's shin.

"OW! Why, you little-" Jared starts.

I aim higher with my feet and kick him in the stomach, knocking him backwards into the wall with a loud thump.

I quickly get to my feet and pick up my sword.

Jared's two goons start forward, but Jared wheezes, "_No! _She's _MINE!_"

He charges at me, catching me off guard. I didn't expect him to recover so quickly.

I quickly dash to the side, kick him in the side and swing my sword, smashing the flat side of the sword into his back as he passes by.

_Where did that come from?_ I wonder.

Then I remember-this is the same move Klith used on my dad before killing him.

Jared stumbles onto the ground, but almost immediately gets up and tackles me into the wall.

* * *

"What the hell is that noise?" I complain.

"It's probably some people having a fight in the next room." Ingrid said as she sharpened her knives.

"Well, its pissing me off and I can't sleep." I growl.

Arc stares at me. "Dude, it's three p.m."

I glare at him and get up with a groan. "I'm going to go break it up.

Ingrid glances up at me. "You don't mean 'break' as in 'break a few skulls', right?"

I snorted and kicked open the door.

* * *

Things were not going especially well for me.

Jared was kicking my butt. Literally and figuratively. That one move where I actually managed to hit him was probably just a fluke.

"I expected more from the proclaimed 'reborn soul of Herobrine'." Jared used air quotes. "Puh-lease. Don't make me laugh."

I was _reeeaaally _starting to hate this guy.

I got back up and readied my sword, my body burning with exhaustion.

"Wow." Jared raised his eyebrows. "You are really persistent. Too bad you'll lose anywa-"

Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes widened in surprise and someone lifted him off the ground and threw him across the room.

I yelped and ducked as he sailed over my head and slammed into the wall. Jared slammed into the wall and then collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

I slowly straightened and stared at the person who had thrown Jared across the room.

It was...someone.

I swore I saw him somewhere, but I couldn't get a grip on it. Then it dawned on me.

This guy was Cross. You know, that guy that Jax had only given a brief description of in Chapter 4. (AKA All Hail The Magic Whiteboard.)

_'That's Cross. He's...kind of scary, actually.'_

_Now what would make him say that?_

"Uh...hi?" I said, slightly intimidated.

"I don't like unfair fights." Cross said, his face emotionless. I can't deny that it was kind of scary. While Jared's eyes had been burning with jealousy and hate, Cross's eyes were just...cold. Colder than the most frigid ice block.

Wow. That was a nice metaphor. I should write a story.

Oh, wait. I am.

"You're the new girl." Cross said, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Well, yeah." I mumble. "Uh, thanks for, um...beating Jared up, I guess." I saw Jared's two goons unconscious on the ground. One of them had a nosebleed.

This did not make me feel better or any less awkward.

Cross smiled humorlessly, a smile that made shivers run down my spine.

"You're welcome." he prodded one of the goons with his foot. "These guys might wake up soon. Probably not, but I learned you should be careful when facing people like...them." he prodded the goon again. The goon moaned.

I slipped awkwardly out of the room, mumbling "Thanks, anyway..."

I am not ashamed to say that I ran as fast as I could to the armory.

?-?-?

"HE DID _WHAT?_"

I winced slightly. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have told Jax about the conflict with Jared. He was taking it a _little _too hard.

"I always knew he was a jerk—" Jax raged. "But to try and kill you just because he's _jealous?_ May Herobrine curse him to the Nether!"

"I don't think he tried to kill me." I said, slightly nervous that Jax was going to beat Jared up, even more harshly than Cross did. "I think he just wanted to prove he's better than me."

"As if _that's _any better! Why, that little brat should go ahead and—"

Jax then started ranting on and on, insulting Jared so harshly it made my ears bleed. And _man, _could he swear like drunken sailor.

And what the heck is a 'dirt loving sack of crap', anyways?

Anyways, after I was done packing, (and Jax had finished cursing) it was time to head out.

It turned out that a whole bunch of people had come out to say good bye. I guess Jax was more popular than I thought.

Arc, Ariel, and Ingrid all came out to fist bump, high five, and hug Jax.

Practically no one agknowledged I existed. It's crazy, but I get the feeling some of them were...scared of me.

I glanced into the crowd to see Jared holding an ice pack to his forehead and glaring at me so intensely it could have melted bedrock.

And I also saw Cross, who was hanging back from the crowd congratulating Jax. He made eye contact and nodded slightly.

For some reason, this made me feel better. I stood up straighter, and my confidence grew.

"Hey."

I turned to see Owen.

And just like that, I deflated again.

"Uh—hi." I said, feeling like a chicken in water—floundering around uselessly.

He smiled slightly, and butterflies flew around in my chest.

"Reborn soul of Herobrine, huh?" Owen said, impressed. "I just wanted to give you something before you went on your quest."

"Um, what is it?" I asked.

He slipped something out of his inventory and held it out to me.

It was...a diamond sword.

I took it from his hands and swung it around a few times. It felt perfect in my hands. I smiled. "Thanks. This is...this is great."

Owen grinned. "You're welcome. Pretty good, isn't it?"

"Yeah." I put it in my inventory. "Thanks."

He grinned. "Good luck out there."

He patted my back and then walked back into the crowd, grinning at me.

"Hey, isn't that the guy that complimented you when you vaporized those zombies?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, he is." I said.

Jax frowned. "Are you okay? You're grinning like an idiot."

I immediately stopped smiling. "Yeah, I'm fine. Couldn't be better, in fact."

He saw the diamond sword in my hands. "Ooh, looks like Lover Boy gave you a gift."

I kicked him in the shins.

"OW! Hey, no need to kick so hard, you know!"

"...let's just go." I muttered, my face red.

?-?-?

You're probably wondering how the first day of my quest went.

It was...boring.

Literally all we did all day was walk. Walk until our legs felt like they were going to buckle any moment now.

Well, mine, anyways.

"So...how much longer do we have to walk?" I asked Jax, dragging my feet across the ground.

Jax scratched his head. "Well, the whiteboard-er, Notch said to find...Shaft. Which will be notoriously difficult, considering he's always on the move."

I stopped. "Wait, are you saying we have no idea where he is?"

Jax opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again.

"Got it," I said, my heart sinking into my shoes. "So we have no idea where this 'Shaft' is, and we have no clue where to go _after_ we find him."

"Actually, we do." Jax said. "The center of the world, Notch said."

"Oh, that's much more better." I said sarcastically. "Where are we now, the bottom left corner of the world?"

"Ha ha. You know what, it's getting night time. Look-there's a hotel right up ahead. Isn't that convenient?" Jax said.

"Oh, thank God." I muttered. "My legs feel like they've been covered in magma blocks and then nibbled by zombies. Who is Shaft, anyways?"

"He's basically the best archer in the entire world. He can fire five arrows in two seconds, I heard. Probably not real. No one can shoot that fast."

We entered, and almost immediately a blond man with gray eyes ran up to us.

"Hello, my name is Michael! And that's Travis!" Michael gestured to the man behind the counter. "Can I get you a room?"

As Jax paid, I saw out of the corner of my eye a poster that said "Archery competition at 4 P.M. at Janlyn tomorrow! Special Guest: Shaft!"

"Hey," I nudged Jax. "You see that?"

Jax frowned. "That seems awfully convinient."

"Maybe cause we're main characters."

"What?"

"Nothing."

We walked up the stairs and found our room.

Jax pulled out multiple shulker boxes and placed them down. He opened one and a map spilled out of it. Jax was staring at his map when I leaped into my bed and draped the covers over my head.

"Toni, it's only seven p.m." Jax said, his voice muffled slightly.

"I don't care."

I sighed and closed my eyes. I was so tired...

?-?-?

_She's standing in a village._

Really, a dream, again?

_She looks around, slightly confused. Where is she? _

_Suddenly an enormous rumbling sound tears into her ears. She turns, and she gasps in horror._

_An enormous mushroom cloud, reaching higher and higher into the heavens..._

_Villagers are running around in a panic, a child cries as her mother runs as hard as she can with her child._

_She also turns to run, but she can't outrun the wave of fire and destruction that erases everything in it's path._

_The flames engulf her, and she screams._

_All she can see is bright orange, swirling around her..._

**You cannot stop me. You know you cannot. You only seek to end your life faster.**

**You will die.**

?-?-?

I wake up with a gasp, and nearly fall out of my bed.

I lay there, panting as if I just ran a marathon. Sweat runs down my neck. I stare at the clock.

5:46 A.M.

I sighed and tried to go back to sleep. But that dark, menacing voice keeps coming back to haunt me...

**You will die.**

I stumble out of bed and walk towards where the shulker boxes should be. Did Jax pack water? My neck is so dry...

Gone.

They're all gone.

I blink in surprise. Where could they have gone? Could Jax have put them back into his inventory? Why would he?

Wait.

My inventory.

I check mine and gasp.

It's completely empty.

But how could that be?

I heard laughing somewhere in the distance, and my head swivels towards the door.

I know I should wake up Jax, but I want to find out for myself.

I remember Cross throwing Jared across the room.

_I can do this by myself._

I quietly open the door, careful not to wake Jax.

The hallway is lit up by torches.

_Why am I doing this? I should wake up Jax and just-_

No.

There was something...more of a reason why I didn't want to wake Jax. I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to be useful.

I creaked down the stairs, wincing every time the stairs creaked.

I find myself in the lobby of the hotel. There's a door behind the counter. The laughter seems to be coming from there.

_I can do this._

I open the door a crack.

Michael and Travis are in there, along with two other men. Travis pulls out a very long sword and sets it on the table between all of them.

A spark of recognition runs through me.

_Jax's sword!_

"...around thirteen emeralds." I heard a snippet of their conversation.

_They're going to sell our stuff!_

Next, they pulled out a diamond sword. Fury runs through me.

_That's MY SWORD!_

I've seen enough. I quietly shut the door and turn around, looking over my shoulder.

I need to wake up Jax. I need to-

I crash into the counter with a deafening '_crash_'.

All falls silent.

The door swings open, and Michael is there. Glaring at me.

"Whoops."


	9. The Chapter In Which I Get To Eat

**Yaaay! I didn't take a freaking month to upload! Hurray!**

**And it didn't even take that long! Only...roughly two weeks. Not that I'm counting.**

**Also, a big shoutout to ThinMintE for favoriting my story and leaving a review. Thanks for the support.**

**Also, thanks to those other people who have followed and favorited my story. If there's a way to find out who these people are, please tell me how.**

**Or leave a review. That works too.**

* * *

The Chapter In Which Toni Gets To Eat

Jumping over a counter is not as easy as it looks.

Trust me, I've tried.

I tried to slide over the counter like in the movies, but I just ended up jumping onto the counter and then falling onto the ground.

Which was a good thing to do, because an arrow flew over my head and impaled itself in the wall.

I scrambled to my feet and ran for the stairs as another arrow flew towards me. I dove to the ground, and the arrow sailed right past me.

_This guy aims like a stormtrooper._

Immediately after I thought that, an arrow flew through the air and impaled my leg.

I shrieked and tripped onto my face for the second time.

_Curse you, cruel irony!_

I tried to pull the arrow out, but another arrow nearly hit my head.

_No time!_

So I stumbled onto my feet and limped my way to the second floor, with four people who wanted to kill me on my tail, with an arrow through my leg, for a room that was forty blocks away.

In short, this was not one of my best days.

I glanced over my shoulder. The two unidentified men were running at full speed with swords in their hands, while Travis and Michael were running and loading their crossbows at the same time.

Meanwhile I was hobbling as fast as I could, but the room wasn't any closer.

Suddenly a thought raced through my mind.

_I'm the reborn soul of Herobrine. Herobrine has storm magic!_

I turned, still hobbling away at top speed, and extended my palm towards my enemies that were getting closer and closer.

Of course, nothing happened.

_Oh, come on! You activate for a couple of zombies but not for these guys?_

I turned forward. I just had to run faster. Even though it felt like someone had sliced open my knee and sprinkled salt in the wound, I ran harder.

Burning pain screamed through my leg, but I ran faster.

_Don't look back!_

I ran into my room and slammed the door shut. Immediately I barricaded the door with a dresser, and the two shulker boxes.

I heard them slamming the door, and I ran over to Jax.

"Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!" I frantically shook him.

Jax groaned and his eyes fluttered opened. "_What?_" he snapped.

"Michael! Travis! Thieves! Your sword! Kill me! _We need to go!_"

"What are you even-"

A fist smashed an opening through.

I hauled Jax out of his bed, threw him onto the floor, and dove for cover as two arrows slammed into the spot Jax had been a few seconds ago.

"_Toni! What is going on?_" Jax yelled.

"Michael and Travis are robbers! They rob whoever comes here of all their stuff, sell it all, and kill them!" I hurriedly explained.

"They have my _sword?_"

"YES!"

Suddenly the door burst open, and the four men charged in. Jax leaped up from his hiding spot and lashed out with both fists, hitting Travis and knocking out one of the men with swords. He picked up the sword and blocked a strike from the other man.

Michael was hurriedly loading his crossbow, but I kicked Travis in the gut and shoved him into Michael, causing him to shoot his arrow into the floor.

Jax kicked the man in the crotch, and as he bent over in pain, Jax grabbed his head and smashed his knee into it. The man collapsed.

Suddenly Michael grabbed me by the neck and pushed the crossbow into my head.

"Don't move, or this girl gets it!" Michael snarled. Jax froze.

I was furious. I'd managed to get myself into trouble-again.

"NO!" I shouted. "I am not going to lose _again!_" I stomped on Michael's foot, emitting a pained howl from him. I grabbed the crossbow and pushed it up so he fired into the ceiling.

I whirled around, punched him in the face, and threw him into the window.

He smashed through the window with a _crash_ and plummeted down to the ground below.

I breathed heavily, and when Travis weakly tried to get up, I kicked him in the side and knocked him onto the ground.

I noticed Jax staring at him, his mouth open.

"What?" I snapped.

"Nothing," he said. "You're just...kind of scary when you're mad."

I sighed and relaxed. "Yeah. I lost against Jared, I lost against Klith, I'm just tired of losing."

"You didn't lose with the rock golem," Jax offered. "You _killed _that one. Literally."

"How were you even there?"

"The entrance to the Aether is in that exact same spot you killed that rock golem in. I was just gathering some materials for my..._other _hobbies...when I saw you fighting that rock golem. I was tempted to help, but after I saw how you handled it, I just let you be." Jax said.

"So you were watching when the rock golem fell in the lava?"

"Uh...yes."

"And you were watching when that rock golem came out of the lava and nearly killed me?"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

"And you _didn't _do anything?"

Jax hurriedly changed the subject. "Anyways, we should get moving. These guys could wake up at any moment now."

My jaw dropped. "_What!? _Jax, it's five thirty in the morning or something! Don't we deserve some rest!?"

"Nope. No time. Janlyn is a two-hour walk." Jax said stubbornly.

"If we're going to get to Janlyn in two hours, it'll be _seven thirty _in the morning! The archery contest starts at _four p.m.!_" I argued.

"No." Jax started walking downstairs. "I'm getting all of our stuff and then we're out."

"You seemed perfectly content to have a snore fest when I actually _needed _your help." I grumbled.

When Jax came back, I poked the three people lying semi-conscious on the ground. "So what are we going to do with _these _guys?"

"Tie them up and burn this place to the ground." Jax said wearily, making me stare at him in surprise.

Jax noticed me staring. "What? You want to leave this place intact so the next time someone finds this place _they're _robbed?"

I sighed. "I guess not. Do we even have any rope?"

Jax pulled out a coil of rope. "Yup."

I tied them up, because the only knot Jax knew how to tie was a granny knot. We walked out of the hotel with Jax pulling the three men behind him. Travis smacked his head in the doorway, but either Jax didn't notice, or he just didn't care.

We also tied up Michael, who was lying unconscious on the ground with glass shards all around him.

I turned to Jax. "So are we really burning this place down?"

Jax rolled his eyes. "Yeah. We went over that." he pulled out flint and steel from one of the shulker boxes.

"Is it just me or do you have an endless supply of everything?" I asked.

Jax grinned. "I just like to cover every possible situation." He struck the flint and steel, sending a spark into the wood and setting it on fire.

I watched the fire spread until the entire building was burning. I coughed as a waft of smoke seemed to fly right at me, and suddenly I was reminded of my dad's death.

"Let's get out of here before someone comes along and mistakes us for arsonists." I coughed.

"Good idea." Jax said, and picked up the shulker boxes with a grunt. He walked away, and I followed after him, my eyes watering.

Only some of it was because of the smoke.

?-?-?

Hour 9,999,999,999 and we haven't reached Janlyn yet.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen" is Jax's response when I complain.

I groaned and sank onto my knees. "I think my ankles are broken."

"See? Drama queen." Jax retorted.

I groaned. "I'm not being a drama queen. My feet just feel like..." I trailed off, not being able to come up with a metaphor. "They hurt, okay?"

Jax rolled his eyes. "If you want to become a good partner on a quest, you need to be able to walk long distances."

"You also need to be a light sleeper," I muttered, earning me a glare from Jax.

"Listen, five minutes and we're there. So just suck it up and keep moving."

I sighed and continued to walk. If I got out of this alive I would take a bath. A warm, relaxing bath.

I completely and totally spaced out, thinking of all the things I would do and all the things I would eat when this was all over.

Grilled lamp chops. A baked potato. Bacon. Ooh, especially bacon. I would kill for just a plateful of-

I walked into a wall, toppling backwards and landing on my butt.

Jax laughed, and I glared at him. "Quit it, please."

"Talk about spaced out." Jax snorted.

I got to my feet, brushing myself off.

"We're here, in case you haven't noticed. You probably have." Jax said, amusement clear on his face.

"Stow it," I growled.

Jax rolled his eyes. "Come on, we need to find where the archery tournament is taking place."

"The archery tournament is in _eight hours!_ We have _plenty _of time!" I protested. "Look-there's a steak restaurant right over there! Just a quick meal is all-"

"No," Jax said firmly. "We can't waste time. And if we find Shaft early, we don't even have to go to the archery contest."

He practically dragged me across the ground, and I inwardly groaned. My stomach growled as if it was agreeing with me-that this sucked.

_Hold on...hold on._

I glanced at the green shulker box hanging off Jax's belt.

Slowly a grin came over my face.

_I really am the reborn soul of Herobrine._

* * *

Jax

* * *

Toni just really didn't understand.

I should have known she would be complaining like a six year old. After all, she was only twelve.

I mean, I was fourteen, but she had less experience than me. I'd been trained for this situation practically my whole life.

I was actually kind of surprised we weren't lying dead in a ditch somewhere yet. So far we'd only gone through one life threatening situation in the first day, and for a quest that was actually kind of a small number.

Sure, walking around a town that was roughly four thousand blocks in diameter (which was equal to four kilometers) looking for an archer was not the most entertaining activity, but we'd probably find him in the second or third hour. I'd tended to the tree farm for seven hours for a punishment _twice_ once. This was nothing.

(And no, I will not say what the punishment was for.)

I stopped. We seemed to be downtown, because there were quite a lot of shops and stores and restaurants.

I let go of Toni's arm. "Huh. We're at a place where there's a lot of people. We should start asking around. Toni, you ask around where the archery tournament is being held, and I'll ask if anyone's seen Shaft."

When Toni didn't respond, I turned. "Toni, I know you don't want to, but-"

Toni had disappeared.

I blinked. "Toni?" Panic gripped my chest. Had one of Klith's men taken her without me noticing? Where had she gone?

I whipped around frantically until my eyes landed on...

...a restaurant, where the door was slowly swinging shut as if someone had threw it open in a hurry.

"Toniiiiii," I half growled, half moaned.

I sighed and turned. She couldn't buy anything, anyway. She didn't have any money. I'd let her dream until eventually she came crawling back to me.

I rolled my eyes and started walking the opposite direction. Toni probably wouldn't be able to find me, but that was on her. Not me. And I wasn't pulling her kicking and screaming out of the restaurant. I wasn't her mom.

You're probably thinking, _Wow, that's kind of irresponsible, Jax. Isn't she kind of your responsibility, as a person who hasn't gone on a single adventure until this point?_

Yeah, I know, I know. That was kind of stupid of me. But the thing was, I didn't want to be responsible for every little thing she did. I mean, I was a teacher for combat, but all teachers have their bad days, you know? Especially when you're a sub. That's something I never want to experience again. I still remember how I nearly got decapitated by a flying trident...

But I'm getting off topic. The point is, I could not, no, _would not _teach her about every little thing we came across and generally act like a mom scolding her three year old baby.

Also, if she complained about how her feet hurt one more time, I would go beserk and kick her all the way to the moon.

I asked someone, "Hey, do you maybe know where I could find Shaft?"

The man said "No," and walked away.

"Glad to know that these people are so friendly," I muttered under my breath.

I continued to ask around and basically got the exact same answer from everyone else, except this one lady that didn't even say anything and just walked away. Like, rude. It takes one second to say the word "No." You couldn't spend one freaking second of your life to say a single one-syllable word?

Anyways, I was kind of starting to lose hope at this point. I'd probably asked one-tenth, no, one-millionth of the population of Janlyn, and already an hour had passed.

I sighed and turned around, ready to head back to that stupid restaurant. Toni was probably looking everywhere by now. Oh, well. It would take less time to find her than finding Shaft, at least.

I bumped into someone and nearly tripped and fell. "Sorry," I said.

Then something strange happened. The man's expression went from annoyed to surprised, to delighted, and then to placid in a matter of seconds.

"Do you know by any chance where Shaft may be?" I asked.

He nodded his head. "Yes, yes. His location would be right over there!" the man pointed somewhere, and I had to squint to see. The place he was pointing at was pretty far away, and it was practically a ghost town over there. Weird.

"That hut with the acacia walls?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, precisely."

I didn't think that the most best archer in the world would be hiding in a three by three hut made out of acacia, but I decided to favor the man.

I walked over to the hut, pushing my way through the crowd.

I broke into a run just as the crowd dissipated, running hard and fast.

I got there and threw open the door.

I saw two men inside, and they turned around. One of them were blond, and the other had an eyepatch. When they saw me, their eyes widened.

"Excuse me, is-"

Both of them pulled out weapons and charged.

-^A^-

Now, I don't know what you do when two random people attack you suddenly out of nowhere, but you probably don't yelp and fall on your butt.

Which is what I did.

The blonde's sword barely missed my head by an inch, and I rolled out of the way to avoid the other man's axe.

_Why are they attacking me? I didn't do anything!_

Suddenly it hit me. I knew why that man from earlier looked so surprised, and then happy.

It was because he was looking for me. That man was working for Klith. _And _these two as well.

I stumbled to my feet and pulled out my sword. Without hesitation, I charged forward and swung my sword in a large arc, hitting Eyepatch in the side.

Eyepatch hissed in pain and ran at me with the intent of impaling me. I parried a strike from his axe and slashed out, hitting him again in the chest.

Blonde suddenly jumped in and stabbed me in the thigh, and I yelled in pain and smashed the flat side of my sword over his head, and he dropped like a stone.

I winced as I pulled the sword out of my thigh, but immediately after Eyepatch ran at me and slammed his axe into my chest, throwing me backwards.

I hit the ground with a small yelp of pain, clutching my thigh wound.

Eyepatch walked towards me with a nasty grin. He slammed his axe into my arm before I could lift my sword, emitting a pained yell from me.

"Guuuurrrrggh.." I groaned.

Eyepatch kicked my sword away and picked up his axe. He raised it in the air, and it glinted in the sunlight.

Suddenly he howled in pain and clutched his back, where an arrow was now embedded in it.

He dropped his axe and collapsed forward onto the ground with a dull _thud._

Blonde groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. An arrow hit his chest and knocked him back down.

A girl, maybe seventeen or so, dropped from the roof of the hut (when had she gotten up there?) and pulled both arrows from the two men.

"Wh-who are you?" I demanded.

She stared at me. "A thank you would be nice."

"Did you-did you kill these guys?" I asked.

She laughed. "Nah. I just knocked them out for a few hours. Those arrows were laced with a light poison that knocks you out for a while. Gives you a hell of a headache when you wake up, as well."

Her expression turned annoyed. "And it's expensive. I just spent forty emeralds on both of those." She was talking like it was _my _fault I'd been attacked.

"I could have handled it," I said.

"Right after you'd have gotten your face smashed in." she said, and slipped her bow into her inventory. "I'm Samantha. But don't call me that or I'll shoot you. Call me Sam."

Sam unleashed a 40-watt grin. "Also, some people like to call me Shaft. Nice to meet you."

* * *

**I can't shake the feeling that my action scenes are kind of bland. Is it just me?**

**_Krios_**


	10. The Archery Contest Is Not Worth It

***drinking coffee***

***realises I haven't updated since October 20***

***chokes* holy sHHI-**

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I said I'm sorry!**

**Seriously though, you can't really blame me though. I've had loads of schoolwork and I'm finding that throughout the school year that my stress levels are slowly rising, although that's...a valid yet stupid excuse.**

**It's literally been a month, and I apologize for that. Please forgive me.**

**If only I had a dollar for every time I said sorry I'd have exactly...seven dollars.**

**Enjoy this chapter while you still can-you might be in for another long wait. Hoo boy.**

**_Krios_**

* * *

The Archery Contest Is Not Worth It

I probably looked like an idiot just then.

Standing there with my mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air, a sword hanging loosely from my hand, and multiple cuts on me.

Sam didn't look surprised or annoyed at all at my reaction.

"You." I said flatly. "You're Shaft. The world's most expert archer. You."

Okay, now Sam looked annoyed.

"Wow," she said. "Rude. Just because I'm seventeen and I'm a girl doesn't mean-"

"No, no." I waved my hand. "It's not that, it's just because...you're, uh..."

"Seventeen and a girl?" Sam prompted dryly.

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes." Sam said. She twirled her finger around a lock of her auburn hair. "Anyways, I'm out. See ya." She turned to leave.

"Wait!" I shouted.

Sam turned and glanced at me. "What? You want an autograph or something? My handwriting sucks."

"No, no, no. I need-you are-you need to come with me." I stumbled over multiple words.

She raised her eyebrow. "And the reason for that is?"

My mind went blank. Why hadn't Notch said anything about why we needed her?

Stupid cryptic message.

"Because Notch commands it." I blurted. "And if you don't come right now, the world will...end."

She stared at me, and I inwardly cringed. God, that sounded cheesy, even to me.

"What was your name again?" Sam asked.

"It's Jax, but that doesn't matter." I told her. "Listen, I know I sound like a psychopath right now, but I'm serious right now."

"Ah, yes." Sam nodded. "But see, if I don't go to this archery tournament, the sky will fall and the cows will declare war on mankind."

"Wh-What-I'm being serious right now!" I protested. I wasn't the one that stammered like an overly anxious kid giving a book report to the entire class. That was Toni!

I decided to try a different approach. "Listen. I know it sounds insane, but I-" I pointed at myself. "I am the reborn soul of Null."

Sam wrinkled her nose. "Well, why didn't you use your maaaagical Null powers to beat up those guys then?"

"Because I get tired if I use those powers too much!" I protested. "It literally sucks the energy out of me! I'm still a human, you know!"

"So you'd rather be dead than tired?" asked Sam.

I hated this girl. She was so annoyingly right.

"Okay, sure. Maybe that was a little stupid." I started.

"Duh."

"Would you please let me finish!?"

"Okay, okay."

"So, Notch sent me-well...us, a message. He wanted us to go on a quest."

"Who's us? Like me? I didn't get a message." Sam said, frowning.

"Not you. There's this other girl that just recently came. Her name is Toni. She's the reborn soul of Herobrine." I explained.

"Oh."

"So Notch told us to look for you, because if we don't Klith will..." I drew a blank. "Well, we don't know what Klith will do yet, but that'll be figured out all in good time. So anyways, Notch told us to venture out and find Shaft, AKA you. So henceforth, you're coming with us." Satisfied, I crossed my arms.

"Riiight." Sam sounded skeptical. "What was your name again?"

"I literally told you a minute ago."

"I forgot."

"What do you mean, you forgot?"

Sam snorted. "You do know you've explained practically nothing, right?"

I fumed. "I gave you plenty of details!"

"You did not."

"Yes I-look, arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. Can you just give me the benefit of the doubt and come with me at least?"

Sam frowned. "Eeeh, I'm hovering around a solid maybe."

"Why not!?"

"Because I don't believe you and you sound crazy."

I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. What am I supposed to do if Shaft won't even agree to come with us?

"I can prove it to you." I say, even though I have no idea how I'm going to do that.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "How are you going to do that?"

"Uh..."

"You have no idea, don't you."

"No! I'm thinking!"

Sam frowned. "Ok, fine. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and I'll come with you." She pointed at me passive-aggressively. "But you better have some good dirt."

I blinked. "Dirt?" I echoed.

Sam rolled her eyes. "You know. Information. You're fourteen, shouldn't you know this stuff?"

"I was home schooled, which means I probably didn't hang out with the cool kids that said stuff like _legit _or _dude_." I say, resisting the urge to sock her in the stomach.

"JAAAAAAAAAAX!"

Oh, and of course on top of all of that I had to have an impertinent twelve year old dumped on me. Just great.

Toni ran up to me, wiping steak sauce off her mouth. "Why'd you leave?"

I glared at her. "Because I was not going to wait while you waste time and dilly dally in that stupid restaurant!"

"Hey!" Toni protested. "The food there was good! If you'd have went in I would have bought you something!"

"With what? You don't have any mone-wait." I stopped and patted my belt. "Where's my green shulker box?"

Toni at least had the grace to look ashamed. "Well, I was hungry, you know." She pulled out a bright green shulker box and tossed it. It bounced off my chest.

"Gee, for a seasoned warrior such as yourself, you sure suck at catching." Toni fiddled with her fingers, not looking me in the eyes.

I was thunder struck. "You _stole from my inventory? _I thought you would have been _against _stealing after last night!"

"Hey, you can't blame me! There were eight and a half stacks of emeralds in there!"

"Hey, I still exist, you know." Sam waved her hand in my face. "I'm sure you can resolve your financial problems later."

Toni finally seemed to notice Sam. "Who's that?"

"That's Shaft." I tell her.

Toni took a moment to digest the news. "She...wha..." Toni vaguely pointed from Sam to me. "I don't...wha..."

_Ok, so maybe I should have told her the news slowly._

"Wow, you guys are just the most intelligent people I've ever met. I could probably go bungee jumping off your IQ." Sam deadpanned. "The only reason I'm still here is because I'm incredibly bored and this town is boring. I should be practicing right now. Not that I need practice."

"And I could use your ego as a diving board." I shot back.

"Listen, can we get to the point?" Toni asked. "We need to know where the 'center of the world' is."

I gave Toni a strange look, and she gave me one right back. Toni mouthed, _Center of the world. Whiteboard. Remember?_

Ah, yes. I'd pretty much forgotten what had happened. So much had happened since then, it felt like the new memories were pushing away the old ones.

I remembered the exact words: "_You will venture to the center of the world to stop Klith._"

Sam frowned. "I don't know what you mean by that. I mean, I do have a mapmaker friend in Hiemx. He probably knows, which means you can go to him and stop bothering a busy woman."

I groaned. "You're seventeen. You're not even an official adult yet, and we covered this. _You need to come with us._"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Ah, pshh. Who cares about the details, uh..." Sam squinted at me. "What was your name again?"

"_OH. MY. GOD."_ I groaned. "You're just doing this on purpose now, aren't you?"

Sam looked innocently back at me. "I don't know what you mean by that, uh, Jack."

"JAX!"

"Okay, okay, calm down."

I checked my watch. It was 8:10 A.M. I sighed. "So, I guess we won't have to go to this archery tournament after al-"

"What?" Sam looked incredulous. "Did you guys seriously think I'd miss out on something that big?"

I gaped at Sam. "You can't be serious! The world is going to end if we don't stop Klith now! Including the fact that on the world maps, Janlyn is pretty much a blip on the surface of the world! What do you mean, 'something that big'?"

"Well, you know, apart from me, a bunch of other famous people are going to come, like Trellis Verwood, Luna Trigh, Sir Plopen-"

"I'm sorry, did you just say Sir _Plopen?_" Toni choked.

Sam grinned. "Well, his full first name is Sir Plopentufs, actually."

"Plopentufs. Oh, god. I need a few seconds." Toni put her hands against her knees.

I didn't get what was so funny about Sir Plopentufs's name, but that wasn't important now. "Oh, fine." I snarled. "But in the meantime I'm going to find that guy that worked for Klith."

Toni was the one to look incredulous now. "Klith's guys? Here?"

"Yeah, I ran into one and got attacked by two more right after that, but Sam knocked them out. Speaking of which..." I idly kicked at the body on the ground. "These guys are going to wake up soon."

Toni glanced down at them. She looked like she wanted to ask questions, but she didn't.

"Welp, I'm going to go practice now. See ya." Sam casually said.

I whirled around. "Oh, no you don't-"

Gone. Sam was gone.

"Wha-where'd she go?" I yelled.

Toni frowned. "She's rather...uh..."

"Annoying? Frustrating? _Completely unreasonable and infuriating?_"

"...interesting." Toni finished flatly.

I huffed. "While not what I was thinking, I suppose you could say that."

* * *

Toni

* * *

Of course we spent the rest of the day practicing my sword fighting techniques, because when I thought Jax was kind of a laid back person, I was apparently wrong.

"Block! Attack! Upright posture! Hey, don't fight dirty!"

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Come on, parry! I barely felt that one!"

As I raised my very heavy, mind you, stick-sword to bring it down on his head, Jax reached in and poked me hard with his stick.

"Never raise your sword over your head." Jax instructed as he whapped me on the side with his sword. "It leaves your upper body and torso unprotec-"

I roared in fury and rammed my body into Jax, taking him by surprise and knocking him onto the ground.

"Ow! Hey! That's not proper sword fighting!" Jax yelped.

"Like Klith's going to be fighting fair when we fight him!" I yell, and point my stick at his neck. "Now, _yield._"

In response, Jax grabbed my stick and yanked it towards him. As I stumbled, he kicked me in the stomach, knocking me backwards. He quickly jumped to his feet and swung both of his sticks like a crazy tree.

I yelped and flailed around while Jax smacked and jabbed me in multiple different areas. Eventually he backed me into a wall and pointed both of his sticks at my throat, and this time he pressed the sticks against my throat so if I tried to grab the sticks I'd end up cutting my neck.

"Now, _yield._" Jax smirked.

I glared at Jax and shoved the sticks away from me. "Break. I need a break."

"Sure. Five minutes."

"_No, _I need a _break!_ As in, I need to _rest _more than five minutes!"

Jax frowned. "But shouldn't you be prepared for when Klith and his accomplices show up?"

"I'm already plenty prepared, Jax! Jeez." I slumped onto the bed. "Wake me up when it's four P.M."

I closed my eyes and groaned. Instantly I was sleeping.

?-?-?

And of course my sleep wouldn't be complete without a cryptic dream.

I was in some sort of lab, with weird potions and miscellaneous items like bones, slimeballs, and magma cream. In front of me was a man that appeared to be fidgeting with what looked like gunpowder, blaze powder, and...some other bright blue substance I couldn't name.

Frowning, he added a pinch of each to some strange potion with a dark blue hue, and then started stirring it with a stick.

The concentrating look on his face quickly turned to one of fascination as he lifted the stick up.

The part of the stick he'd stuck into the potion had dissolved.

His eyes wide with disbelief, he picked up a metal rod and stuck it into the potion. He lifted it up. That had dissolved as well.

"Sweet mother of Notch," he whispered. A grin slid onto his face. "I've done it!"

The dream shifted to the exact same room, except it was a complete mess. It looked like a tornado had blasted through the room.

Which actually could have been the case, because the roof had been completely ripped off it's foundations.

Now that I looked closely, there appeared to be cracks in the walls and small piles of rubble everywhere. And burn marks. There were burn marks on the floor everywhere.

Out of one of the bigger piles of rubble, a bruised and scarred hand reached out. The entire pile shifted and crumbled as a man rose from the pile of rubble. The man looked up and turned towards me. It was the exact same man from before.

"Why won't you just _die already!?_" bellowed the man. His eyes were filled with grief and horror.

"Oh, you should have known, Tres. I am a god. I am immortal. Therefore, I cannot die." A voice from behind me said.

I turned, and my heart skipped a beat.

Klith.

He was casually sitting on a desk, balancing his scythe on his hand.

"You are not a god. You are nothing but a mistake. A glitch in the system, a flaw in the game of life, a loose end the world forgot to tie up." Tres snarled. "You getting these powers were just a mistake."

Klith's eyes glowed a dangerous red. "Wanna bet on that?" Klith closed his hand around the scythe and leaped off the desk.

Klith grabbed Tres by the neck and lifted him up. "Where is the acid?"

"I-won't-tell-you." Tres choked. "You-will not-find it. It-it is too-well hidden."

Klith smiled, a look that made my blood run cold. "Really? Don't think I don't know, Tres. I notice everything. Including...the fact that your eyes have been glancing at that cupboard this whole time."

Tres's face went pale.

Klith smiled and extended his other hand. The cupboard door flew open, and a potion flew into his hand.

"No-!" gagged Tres.

"Well hidden, my foot." Klith grinned. "Your services are no longer required."

Klith slammed his scythe into Tres's chest. Tres's eyes bulged.

Klith dropped Tres, who hit the ground with a dull thud. A small puddle of blood was forming on the ground.

Klith impassively stepped over his body and snapped his fingers. There was a loud explosion, and the wall in front of him was blown apart.

"Goodbye, old friend." Klith muttered.

As he stepped outside, he vanished in a burst of red light.

Tres murmured something, and I swiveled around.

Tres's eyes were starting to go blank, but he whispered something again.

I put my ear to his mouth.

Tres opened his mouth and said, "Wake up."

But why was Tres speaking in Jax's voice-?

?-?-?

"_WAKE UP!_"

"AAAH!" I shrieked and lashed out, punching Jax in the face.

"OW!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" I apologized.

Jax was glaring at me. "Toni, it's four twenty! We're late!"

"WHAT?"

Jax winced. "Would you stop yelling?"

"But we're-why did-why didn't you wake me up?"

"Don't you think I _tried? _You were busy mumbling about acid and slimeballs and whatnot!" Jax was practically pulling his hair out.

"Yeah, well-wait. Why am I wet?"

"Uh-"

"_Did you pour water on me?_"

"It was a necessary thing, okay? I was about to slap you as a last resort, but-" Jax realized that I was glaring at him. "Uh, no need for that now, I guess."

I jumped out of bed. "Come on, let's go."

We ran all the way to the town square, and by then the archery tournament had already started.

I looked frantically around and spotted a large tent that had a sign in front of it that said: _Sam O'Quinn A.K.A. Shaft._

Jax was about to barge in when a huge man walked out of the tent. And I mean _huge._ If he painted himself silver and draped vines all over himself, he could probably pass as an iron golem. That's how big he was. "This is a private tent." he boomed in a deep voice.

"Oh, we're just a few friends of hers. We're only visiting for a moment." Jax said airily, though I thought he was stretching the truth a little.

The man raised his eyebrow. "You said _her._"

Jax blinked. "Sorry?"

"Everyone else has said the exact same thing as you-that they're friends, and that they're only visiting for a moment. But no one else thought she was a girl." The man mused. "That means you must be close."

"Yeah! Of course! That's why we know!" Jax said, nervously fiddling with his watch.

_Obvious, much?_

Just when I thought Jax explode from the stress, a different voice said, "Let them in, let them in." Sam came into view. "You're here," she noted. "And you're late."

Jax scowled. "No need to sound so disappointed."

"Oh, but of course not." Sam said casually. "Come in, come in."

We slipped past the big man and stepped into the tent. There were multiple chests full of normal arrows, tipped arrows, a couple of explosive arrows, (which had a label on it that was written in an unknown language) and multiple other arrows.

There were also a bunch of bows on the walls, each with different enchantments, some made out of strange materials.

Jax reached out to touch one, and Sam slapped his hand. "Ow!" yelped Jax.

"Don't touch that." Sam said, and then fell backwards onto a couch. "Welcome to my...tent, I guess.

"This place is surprisingly homey," I commented.

Sam grinned. "Yeah. I camp out in this place whenever we're at some archery tournament or whatever. Speaking of which, it'll be my turn soon. I should get practicing."

Jax groaned. "Fine, but after you're done you need to come with us."

"But I need to see if I get first place or not!" Sam exclaimed.

Jax was practically pulling his hair out. "You're not...that wasn't..._Arrrgggh!_"

I got the feeling Sam was enjoying this.

"Sam? Are there the right amount of arrows in your quiver?" A teen probably at the age of fifteen scurried into the tent. "I just got the news that some of your arrows splintered along the way, so-"

"It's fine, Trevor." Sam assured him. "Guys, meet Trevor. He's my..."

Sam stared at Trevor.

"...assistant."

Trevor glanced at us. "Who are those guys? Not the paparazzi, right?"

I blinked. "Uh, no. We're..." I glanced at Jax.

"...associates." Jax finished.

"Next up..._Shaft of Aethalis!_"

Sam grinned and walked out. "See ya soon."

Jax followed her out, and so did I.

We watched Sam as she walked out into a field surrounded by fence, waving to the crowd, which seemed to be part confusion, part shock, and part doubtful.

A man hurriedly replaced a target with multiple arrows in it with a clean target.

Sam brushed a lock of auburn hair out of her eyes, notched an arrow, (whoops, unintentional pun) and fired.

The arrow struck the target straight in the middle. Almost like a machine, she notched another arrow and fired.

Again and again she fired her arrows, and each of them landed in the middle of the target. Multiple times the arrows came so close together that they splintered the arrows already in the target.

It was nothing special, really. I wasn't very interested, until I spotted a middle aged man in the crowd. I frowned. _He _didn't appear to be very interested in the show. He turned and stared at me. I felt a shiver go down my spine.

"Hey." I nudged Jax. "Does that guy seem suspicious to you?"

Jax frowned. "Who?"

I pointed. "You know. That guy."

"Don't point!" hissed Jax, pushing down my arm. He stared in the direction I'd pointed in, and paled.

"What?" I asked.

"That's the guy I met before I got attacked."

"So?"

"_He's one of Klith's guys._"

I choked. "_What?_"

I whipped back toward him. With a cold smile on his face, he withdrew a knife. He pulled back, ready to throw.

"NO!" I yelled. I jumped over the fence and tackled Sam out of the way just as a dagger sliced through the spot Sam's head had just been.

"_Toni!"_ yelled Sam. "What the _hell _is-"

Another dagger flew at us, but Jax suddenly appeared and sliced it out of the air.

The crowd dissolved into panic, and I could see the man pushing his way through the crowd.

Jax ran forward and swung his sword at the man, who ducked his swing and tackled him onto the ground. The man reared back and punched him in the face.

I screamed and pulled my sword out of my inventory. I charged and slashed the man, knocking him off Jax.

I pulled Jax up. "You ok?" I asked.

He coughed. "Yeah, I'm-cough-fine."

We heard laughing. I looked up to see the man laughing hysterically.

"What are you laughing at?" I snarled.

The man grinned despite the wound on his chest. "Just in time, Toni Deniara. Just in time."

Suddenly there was a loud screeching sound, like feedback from a mike.

A floating portal with no frame materialized behind the man, and multiple pigmen and wither skeletons charged out.

The man got up and smiled at us. "Showtime." he announced.

More screeching made me clap my hands over my ears.

Seven more portals the size of an elephant appeared. Ghasts floated out of them.

And at the same time, they all blasted fireballs at us.

* * *

**This was a long and kind of rushed chapter, but also kind of boring one. It's mostly just set up for the next chapter, honestly.**

**Any ways, I'll try to update soon.**

**Sorry!**

**_Krios_**


	11. Whoa! That Explosion Was Cool!

**Hello everyone! Happy new year!**

**It's Krios here, and I'm kind of late with an update, (which is an understatement) and there's only so many times I can apologize, so here's my gift to you—a new chapter! Yaaay!**

**Enjoy!**

_**Krios**_

Whoa! That Explosion Was Cool!

"Get out of the way!" Jax roared and pulled me out of the way as multiple fireballs streamed through the air, heading straight for us.

There was a deep BOOM, and I was blown head over heels as debris rained down around me.

"What the hell is happening?" Sam demanded as she shot an arrow through an incoming ghost.

"Klith's found us!" Jax yelled as he sliced a pigman in half. "He's trying to kill us!"

"Gee, really?" I deadpanned as I rolled to avoid a slash from a wither skeleton. "For a second I thought he planned to have a pleasant tea party with us."

"Shut up, Toni!"

I awkwardly stumbled to my feet and punched a hole through the wither skeleton. I tried to throw it away, but it remained stuck on my hand as it wildly tried to slice my face off.

I yelled and punched my other fist through its face, knocking the skull clean off.

I pulled it off and swung it like a baseball bat at the remaining pigmen, who were knocked backwards.

Suddenly a kick to the back blew me forwards. I landed on my face and tasted gravel.

I rolled onto my back to see the man advancing on me with a stone sword. He was wearing some sort of carved dark red armor with multiple glowing orange symbols on his chest. He was wearing a helmet that practically covered his entire head, except for his face. I noticed a bright-orange scythe symbol on his helmet.

_Is that a stone sword? Surely it's no match for...mine!_

I pulled out my sword and charged. He simply grinned and blocked a blow from me easily. "Hah! So you're the person the world's relying on? A little...girl?" He sidestepped a wild swing and kicked me in the side hard. I went flying and collapsed in a heap.

I groaned and shakily stumbled onto all fours and swore. "Damn..." I used my sword to prop myself up and face the man.

He laughed. "How pathetic. You can't even fight right."

I hate villains who mock their opponents.

The ground in front of him suddenly cracked apart and multiple sharp shards of obsidian flew out and slammed through the man's chestplate and into his chest.

As the man wailed in pain and fury, I thrust my hand out. "Powers! Stupid! _Work!_"

Of course, nothing happened.

An arrow flew through the air and landed at my feet. I stared at it only to realize that the arrow was smoking.

Yelping, I hurled it towards the man, who had ripped all of the obsidian out of him.

The arrow suddenly exploded, and an enormous fireball engulfed the man.

I shielded my eyes as small pieces of debris pelted me. There was no way the man could have survived that, right?

Wrong.

Roaring, the man charged out of the fire and smashed into me like a crazy football player.

I flew backwards several blocks and landed on the ground, groaning and holding my chest.

And then suddenly Jax was there, swinging his long broadsword into the man's face. The man's helmet shattered, and he stumbled back several blocks.

The man bellowed and punched Jax so hard that he flew backwards and smashed through a hut, which collapsed on top of him.

"Fools! I am Klith's right hand man! I am Bolo! You cannot hope to defeat the most brutal warrior in the world!" Bolo roared. "You can't win! You are outnumbered! You are—"

There was a loud clang.

Bolo blinked and turned around to see Trevor wielding a metal shovel, which had bent at the force of his swing.

Bolo laughed and pointed at Trevor. "Ha! Do you really think that a shovel will beat me? Well, you are absolutely—"

Bolo's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed forward, unconscious.

"Are you okay?" Trevor asked.

"Jax!" Ignoring him, I pushed past him and slipped my hands under the wreckage covering Jax. Muscles straining, I groaned as I lifted it. "Get...out...!"

Suddenly it became a little lighter, and I looked over to see Trevor lifting the wreckage with me.

We both groaned as we lifted the roof and flipped it away.

"Jax?" I groaned as I collapsed onto my knees.

Lying there was Jax, dust coating his jacket and blood streaming down his head. He smiled and winced. "I'm...okay. I think..." he tried to get up and then collapsed with a gasp. "Oooh. _Not okay._"

Sam suddenly appeared at his side. "Ah, crap. Here—Jeff, or whatever your name is, take my hand."

"It's Jax," he mumbled, semi-conscious.

Sam turned to me. "He's delirious. It's definitely Jeff."

"It's actually—you know what, never mind." I turned to Trevor. "Trevor, we need to get out of here pronto. Go find us a ride."

Thank Notch, he didn't argue and ran off. Bolo grunted, and Sam and I exchanged panicked looks.

"What do we do?" Sam yelped.

"Don't worry, I got this." I pried Jax's sword away from him and struggled to lift it. "Unh. This is really heavy."

I dragged it over to Bolo, whose eyes were starting to flutter. I lifted it into the air.

His eyes opened and he groggily lifted his head. "Wh—"

I slammed the flat side of the sword into his face, knocking him back into the ground. I groaned and dragged the sword off Bolo's face.

"I can see the light..." Bolo mumbled and then went unconscious again.

"Sam, do you have any more of those exploding arrows?" I asked her.

Sam nodded. "I have six left."

"Use them to disable the Nether portals."

"_All_ of my arrows?"

"Yes!"

Sam furiously shook her head. "Do you know how expensive—"

"JUST DO IT!" I roared.

She growled and pulled out an arrow with a red TNT symbol on it. She nocked the arrow in her bow. "Fine, but you're coming with me."

"What about Jax?" I protested.

"He can rest there." Sam dragged him behind a wall where he was less likely to wake up on fire.

"Okay, let's go." Sam ran off, not waiting for me. I ran after her.

As we ran multiple mobs figured what we were up to and ran after us. Sam shot down any mobs who ran after us.

There was a loud shriek, and I grabbed Sam by her hoodie, stopping her as a fireball slammed into the ground Sam had been about to run into and blasted it apart.

I glanced up to see a pigman riding a ghast on a saddle. The pigman was holding reins, and the pigman whipped the ghast with a yell. The ghast shrieked and sent a fireball our way. I batted the fireball shot from the ghast right back at it.

The ghast exploded in a fireball, and the pigmen went flying off.

"There!" I yelled and pointed to a Nether Portal that was around the size of an office building with a frame as thick as a cargo container.

"What are you crazy?" Sam yelled. "One explosive arrow won't be enough to take out one of those!"

With a sinking heart I realized she was right. Probably five TNT blocks would do practically nothing, and it would take around 40 TNT blocks placed strategically around the portal in order to destroy it, and we didn't have the resources nor the time to do that, especially to all the other giant Nether Portals floating in the air. Sure, we could take out some of the smaller, normal sized Nether Portals in the ground, but Sam only had eight explosive arrows.

There was nothing we could do for Janlyn.

And then there was the sound of horses. A cart being pulled by horses rolled up to us, Jax clutching his chest in the back, and Trevor at the driver's seat. "Get in!" he urged.

"Come on!" Sam jumped in and turned to give me a hand.

I didn't take it.

"What are you doing?" Sam hissed. "Get in!"

"What about these people?" I demanded. "Are we just going to leave them here?"

"There's nothing we can do, Toni! You couldn't save this town, what's the big deal? It's just a speck on the world map." Sam yelled. "Now get in."

Sam reached out, grabbed my sleeve, and dragged me in. "Go! Now!" she yelled to Trevor.

Trevor yelled, "_Hyah!_" He whipped the reins, and the horses took off. I blinked and coughed as a bit of smoke drifted into my face.

As we raced past burning piles of debris and groups of both mobs and people, I stared out at the chaos that ensued.

"We're going to make it," Sam said.

The first lesson I learned on this quest: never tempt fate.

A fireball flew right past my face, passing so close it set a strand of hair alight.

"_Ahhh! This does not bring back good memories!_" I screamed as the overwhelming heat spread.

Sam pulled an arrow out of her inventory and broke off the point. A spray of water came out of the arrow and hit me in the face, making me splutter.

"You—_cough_—have an arrow for everything, don't you?" I coughed.

And then there was a wave of clattering sounds, and pigmen riding skeleton horses charged at us. One pigman swung their sword, but Jax yelled and sliced them right off their horse. They were immediately trampled in the stampede of horses in pursuit.

"_Toni Deniara!_" A voice roared.

Sam glanced at me. "I thought you knocked him out."

"Apparently he's a light sleeper."

Another pigman thrust their spear at Jax, stabbing him in the arm. Jax yelled in pain. He grabbed the spear and yanked, pulling the pigman off. Screeches filled the air as hundreds of fireballs rained down on us. The cart was swerving wildly, trying to avoid them all.

Jax batted a fireball back at a ghast, which exploded. "There's too many. We'll be killed."

Sam fired an arrow at the blaze, and as the arrow slammed into the blaze, water sprayed from it and extinguished the blaze. It crumbled to ash in the sky.

"Not if we kill them first." Sam nocked an arrow. "On your right!"

I turned to see a wither skeleton suddenly pop up out of nowhere. I yelled and brought my sword down on its head, crushing it.

"We're being tailed!" Trevor called.

"How'd you guess?" Sam yelled as she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and slammed it into a wither skeleton that was climbing into the cart.

"Where are these guys coming from?" I yelled.

"Necromancers!" Jax yelled. "We need to kill them so that the skeletons disappear!"

"Necromancers?" I grumbled. "Well, that's just typical. And a cliche."

"Look!" Sam pointed. I glanced at the direction she was pointing in and saw someone, or rather, something wearing a purple hood and riding a skeleton horse. As I watched, the thing raised its hand and a red aura floated out of it. At the same time, another wither skeleton appeared on Sam's side of the cart, making her curse.

Bolo shoved a pigman out of the way and rode toward us, pushing his horse to the limit. He was so close that he could grab the cart.

"Yield or you burn in the deepest and darkest corners of the Nether!" Bolo roared.

"Never!" Jax returned and swung his sword at Bolo, who parried the slash and threw a punch, which Jax blocked with his sword. Jax swung his sword and slammed it into Bolo's face, making him splutter.

"You're giving me a colossal—" Bolo started to bellow.

"HEADACHE!" Jax yelled as he sliced the skeleton horse's head off.

The skeleton horse immediately crumpled, quite literally. Bolo screamed as he went down in a flurry of bones and dirt, and was immediately trampled by the stampede.

"Ha!" Sam yelled as she vaporized another blaze.

And then more fireballs came out of nowhere. The cart swerved wildly, and a fireball slammed into the back of the cart where Jax's head was, setting it on fire.

It was chaos, with the cart on fire, fireballs flying everywhere, and arrows exploding in midair and spraying multiple blazes with water.

My eyes widened as the fire started to eat through the cart. "Sam!" I yelled. "Fire!"

Sam glanced backwards just for a second and cursed upon seeing the flames slowly engulf the cart.

I quickly dragged Jax out of the way of the flames, which were eating away at the wood.

Sam shot an arrow into the fire, and the arrow promptly exploded and sprayed water all over the fire.

But still it spread, and if it kept eating away at the cart, we would never make it out alive.

"Sam, do you have anymore of those arrows?" I yelled.

"I'm out!" Sam shouted.

"Look inside the red shulker box!" Jax yelled as he sliced a wither skeleton's head off. "There's a bucket of water inside!"

I cursed, grabbed the red shulker box, and opened it. I frantically rummaged through it, throwing out all sorts of things.

"_Aha!_" I yelled as I grabbed a water bucket out of the shulker box.

_Crack_.

Trevor paled. "Oh, crap!"

"What?" Sam yelled. "What now?"

"I think the fire spread to the linchpin!" Trevor shouted.

"The what?" I asked.

"The thing that holds the cart together!" Jax roared. "Toni, dump the water!"

I yelled and poured the contents of the bucket onto the fire. A loud hissing sound drowned out the sounds of ghast screeching and the mechanical wheezing of the blazes.

"It's gone!" I said, relief flooding through my chest.

Spoke too soon.

There was a loud crack as one of the wheels splintered.

The entire cart listed to the side, and I was nearly thrown out of the cart.

"We're slowing down!" Trevor started to panic.

"There's no need to panic, Trevor! Keep your—" Sam started.

A wither skeleton suddenly climbed into the cart and stabbed Sam in the back, making her scream and collapse onto her chest, an arrow hanging loosely at her side.

"No!" I shouted and kicked the wither skeleton out of the cart. I ran over to Sam.

"Jax! Do you have any healing potions?" I frantically ripped a part of my shirt off and pressed it on the wound, making Sam growl in pain.

Jax glanced backwards just as a wither skeleton swung its sword and knocked Jax backwards.

Jax pulled out a healing potion and smashed it into the skeletons face, making it shriek in agony.

He kicked it off and tossed one to me. I pulled out the stopper and made Sam swallow it.

And then there were multiple clattering sounds, and I turned to see that two wither skeletons had climbed onto the cart while I was distracted.

They dived, I swung, and Sam shot her bow.

What happened next was a little hazy. Jax roared in fury, and suddenly there was a wall of what looked like pure darkness behind it. No. Not darkness. Obsidian.

And then shards of obsidian exploded from the ground, like tiny bits of shrapnel slicing through people on the battlefield.

Do you know what you get when you have a bunch of mobs carrying sharp weapons all smash into each other? The result is impaled and crushed mobs everywhere.

I watched in shock as the shards immediately sliced through almost all of the blazes and ghosts over head. Sam finished off the ones still in the air.

And for a moment, it was chaos.

And then all was calm.

I stared at Jax and Sam.

"Did you just...?" I questioned Jax.

Jax groaned. "Talk to me later..." Jax collapsed backwards, suddenly unconscious.

Silence.

"Wow." Sam stared at Jax. "So that stuff about him being the reborn soul of Null is real." She turned to me. "And you..."

"Yeah." I sighed. "Great. We only started the real adventure and we already almost died. This is going to be tough."

There was a loud crack, and another wheel splintered, making Trevor curse.

"Looks like we'll have to ride the horses." Trevor sighed.

I grinned wearily. "Somehow that is the least bad thing that's happened to me this whole day."

* * *

The necromancer pulled the knife out of his chest and stared after them. The people who had just single handedly killed ninety-nine of Klith's best troops.

He growled, and he felt himself getting furious. His fingers started to twitch.

And then he took a deep breath. No. No, he couldn't afford to get mad here. Klith would be mad, but he had to report back for new orders.

He grinned as he thought of all the things he would do to them when he got them.

"You. You failed." A raspy voice reached him. He turned to see Bolo stumbling out of the carnage. Bolo pointed accusingly at him. "I told you to kill them. I told you to swarm them with the undead and rip them apart. And you did the exact opposite."

"Don't go around blaming others for your failure, Bolo." He said coldly. "A true leader would take the responsibility."

"_RESPONSIBILITY!_" Bolo roared, then winced and held his head. After a few moments, Bolo stomped up to the necromancer. "You're too smug for your own good, Necromancer. After I mount Toni's head on a spike, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you are demoted to the lowest rank imaginable."

"Sure." the necromancer said lightly. "Would you like medicine for your headache?"

Bolo snarled and stomped off.

Bolo was too unpredictable—too angry for his own good. He would have to be knocked down a peg.

The necromancer didn't smile, but he felt slight pleasure at the thought of torturing the girl until she begged to die.

_You will pay, Herobrine. You will die for what you did._

* * *

**Well, we're ending on a positive note.**

**Yeah, Jax can summon obsidian to cause ultimate destruction. Pretty cool, right? No? Just me? Okay.**

**And Toni can't use her powers on command. Apparently they just come and go. Actually, we haven't seen her use them since chapter 3.**

**I don't have anything more to add here, so until next time, pip pip cheerio!**

**_Krios_**


	12. Calliope: I Skydive On A Dragon

**Well, this is just becoming a habit now. A bad habit.**

**But hey, at least I didn't take a month this time! I only took...**

**...huh. I did take a month.**

**Well, nothing that I can do about it now. I swear on my mother's grave that I will update in under a month next time.**

**...even though my mom's not dead.**

**Oh, well. I keep my word.**

_**Krios**_

* * *

I Skydive On A Dragon

Sitting on a dragon's back on a desert is not fun.

First of all, it's pretty uncomfortable on top of a dragon's back. (Dan feels comfortable. He also says that I'm just delusional. Go figure.)

Second of all, I was on an Enderdragon's back, so Shell (the enderdragon's) skin tended to soak up lots of heat because it was black, which made it feel kind of like I was riding a scaly frying pan with wings.

Woah. I think the heat really is making me delusional. That's a weird thing to think about.

What were we doing in a desert in the first place?

Good question.

"Why," I panted, "did the bounty hunters have to set up their base in a desert, of all places?"

Dan glanced back at me. "Would you prefer to be in the tundra?"

"At least you can bundle up for the cold." I complain. "And if the heat doesn't kill me, it's the erratic f—CACTUS!"

Dan yelped as we swerved to avoid a rather tall cactus, and I nearly flew off for what seemed to be the sixth or seventh time. I wasn't keeping track.

"Erratic flying." I finish, glowering at Dan.

Dan sighed and looked forward. "Alright, fine, I'll pay attention to what's in front of me."

"Why the desert?" I ask again.

Dan shrugged. "Well, we were in a plains biome before this..."

I blinked. "Huh?"

Dan sighed. I didn't see why he was sighing so much. It was kinda starting to get on my nerves. "We've been forced to move around. Most people...don't take kindly to us. Some of us do it for the glory, some of us do it because they genuinely want to rid the world of evil." Dan grinned back at me. "I'm one of those guys."

"For Notch's sake, keep your eyes on the road!" I yelp.

Dan rolled his eyes and turned back to the front. "Most of us do it for the money, though. Which makes for..."

"...kind of nasty people." I finish. "I get it. That's what I thought of bounty hunters before."

Dan doesn't look back, but I can feel him grinning. "You're pretty smart. Well, what do you think of me?"

I stare at his back, trying to get rid of the grin on my face. "...I'd say you're...different."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I frown. "I dunno. You're just not what I expected."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

_No! Stop! Stop doing what you're doing, face! Stop smiling!_

"Speaking of smarts..." Dan begins.

I wipe the smile off my face. "Oh, no. I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to talk me out of raiding the prison again, aren't you? Well, I'm not changing my mind. My answer stays the same."

"Oh, come on, Cal." Dan pleaded. "You know we can't just barge into a heavily guarded prison and light things up. It's not that simple. That prison is owned by Klith himself. Security would crush us if we just tried to barge in."

"Which is why we're going to your base, right?" I reminded him. "To get reinforcements. How much would we have—thirty, maybe? Possibly forty? Maybe I'm setting my bar too high. Twenty nine?"

"Fifteen, at the most."

I blink. "That's...not reassuring."

Dan glared at me. "Add that to the list of reasons you shouldn't go gallivanting off to your death. An agonizing, burning death as you sink to the bottom of a lava lake—that's not a good way to go. Not to mention most of them probably wouldn't give a damn about you and your mission."

I sigh and wipe my forehead with my sleeve. "I just need to do this, okay? I don't know why. It's just..."

"Empathy." Dan finished. "You have too much of it."

"I have too much empathy? Really? You wouldn't understand. I'm not empathetic. I just want—" I froze up, thinking of my sister.

My vision turned slightly red, but I wasn't sure if that was the heat getting to me or...something else.

"It's nothing." I fan myself. "Woo, it is hot! Hey look, a desert temple!"

Unsubtle, but I was stuck in an awkward situation.

Dan reluctantly glanced forward. "We're here."

I blinked at the desert temple. "Um...is this it?"

Dan set Shell down onto the ground. "On the surface, no. On the inside? Well, you'll see soon enough."

"That clears things up." I grumbled.

Dan turned to Shell. "Shell, you know where to go."

If I didn't know better I could have sworn Shell had nodded.

Dan turned and strides into the temple. I followed him in, hoping it would be cooler inside.

Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

Dan looked around the temple until his eyes came to rest on a chiseled sandstone block.

I hadn't noticed until now. I glanced around the room.

It was the only chiseled sandstone block I could see.

He frowned and pointed at it. He started to count and move his finger across the wall.

"One...two...three...four." he muttered. Then he started counting again, except he moved his finger down this time.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

Dan grinned. "You'll see."

He then started counting to the left and stopped.

"Aha," he said. "Behold..."

Dan rapped the block he was on twice.

I stared at the wall, waiting for something to happen. There was a crack, a rumbling sound, and the wall started to slide open.

And then stopped midway.

Dan blinked. "Wha..."

He started pulling at the door, but nothing happened.

Dan swore. "Damn it, Nikai...I swear when I get my hands on you...I told him to grease the gears on this thing. Slacker."

Dan pulled some more, and with a crackling sound, the door moved and slammed open.

"Behold the..." Dan sighed and dragged his hand over his face. "You know what, just forget it."

"So much for your dramatic entrance." I say dryly.

Dan ignored me.

He disappeared into the room, and I followed close behind. Dan pulled out a torch, and I blinked. In front of me was an enormous hole that reached deep into the earth.

"Uh...we're supposed to go in there?" I asked. "Are there stairs or anything at all?"

Dan shrugged. "No. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to jump down there."

I choked. "Excuse me? No thank you."

Dan glanced back at me. "What's wrong? Scared?"

"Not scared," I corrected him. "Just extremely worried about turning into a grease spot at the bottom of a pit."

Dan frowned. "That's an exaggeration."

"Listen, why don't we just get your dragon and swoop down there?" I ask desperately.

Dan wrinkled his nose. "Does it look like he would be able to fit through there? No, we're jumping."

I glared at him and crossed my arms. "No, we are not jumping."

Dan sighed. "Have I told you how stubborn you are?"

"No."

He blew out a long breath and looked up at the roof. "Notch forgive me for what I'm about to do."

I blinked. "Wha—"

Dan shoved me, and I stumbled. I lost my footing and plummeted into the hole, and I screamed profanities that would get me kicked out of school as I plummeted.

I flailed my arms as I tried to slow my fall. I saw the end of the tunnel—a green stained glass floor.

This was it—I would die here. To think I trusted a bounty hunter. Toni...I'm sorry.

I closed my eyes and slammed into the floor...

And then flew up again.

...huh?

The floor I'd thought was glass was...something else. Something slimy.

I hit the ground again and bounced into the air. I was bouncing up and down on slime blocks!

I hit the ground, and this time I only flew up an inch. I felt like I was on a trampoline.

As soon as I got over my shock, I took in my surroundings. The sandstone gradually fades into stone as you fall, and I was completely surrounded by stone walls with redstone lanterns in them, which had lit up upon my fall. To my left was an iron door with a lapis block next to the door.

And of course, the entire floor was made of slime blocks.

I heard a whoop and a gleeful yell as Dan jumped down. He bounced off the floor and bounced back up again. He landed back onto the slime, his expression that of a child bouncing on a trampoline.

As he came to a stop, he laughed and grinned at me. "So, wasn't that fun?"

I found that my hands were still shaking. "You could have told me there was slime blocks down here."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But where'd the fun in that be? The look on your face—ha! Absolutely priceless."

I got up and got up close to Dan, so close our noses were nearly touching.

And then I punched him in the face.

He stumbled backwards and fell onto his back on the floor.

"I'll take that as a no." Dan groaned from the ground.

"Don't do that again." I snarled. "Not if you want me to punch your lights out."

Dan say up, rubbing his cheek. "Okay, okay. Sheesh. Got it."

I scowl and turn towards the iron door. There's no button. Or lever. Or even a pressure plate.

"How do you open this?" I ask Dan.

Dan pulled out a blue lever. "With this."

I blinked. "Why wouldn't you be able to just place a normal lever?"

"Because that door only opens with a certain blue lever—" he waved the lever in my face. "This one."

"The one you're shaking in my face?"

"That's the one." Dan grinned and placed it on a blue block next to the door. He flipped it, and the door swung open.

Dan gestured for me to go in. "Ladies first."

My fingers twitched, as if my hands had a mind of their own and wanted to plant a fist in Dan's face. "Sure. Whatever."

I stepped into the hallway and was immediately blasted in the face with cold air. In fact, it was cold in here. I shivered.

Of course there was no in between. It was either burning hot or freezing cold.

As Dan walked in, he plucked the lever out of the blue block and quickly pulled his hand in before the iron door shut on his hand.

"What happens if you get your hand stuck in there?" I asked, gesturing to the door.

"Well, then...bye bye, hand." Dan shrugged.

This did not make me feel better.

We walked down a passageway lit with only redstone torches for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. We got to another iron door, which Dan opened again.

We walked through the doorway, and immediately were hit by a barrage of light.

I shielded my eyes until they adjusted, and when I opened my eyes, my jaw dropped.

We were standing at one end of an extremely huge chamber with a floor made out of oak wood. On the ceiling was an enormous TV screen that was around the size of a movie theatre's screen. Around every minute the image on the screen changed. There was a lunch menu on the screen one minute, and then a rather non threatening looking teen with dirty blonde hair that looked like a hay block.

"First time you've seen a speculum before?" Dan sounded amused.

"A spectacle?"

Dan chuckled. "No, but I suppose it is a spectacle. We've got some extremely talented redstone engineers here. A speculum the size of a door would make around three months to make, so how long do you think this one would take?"

I turn to Dan. "You can't be serious."

"When we got this speculum, people were stoked as hell to see it. My friend Orca, a redstone engineer, was practically bouncing off the walls." Dan grinned at the memory. "Anyways, let's go talk to my crew."

As we walked along the chamber, I glanced around and saw an entire cafeteria. I thought about asking Dan for something to eat when someone hurled a sandwich at a girl. The girl snarled and dived at him, and they started beating each other up.

I quickly turned away from the fight.

I also saw multiple doors that led to messy offices at the other side of the chamber. I saw a middle aged man yelling and frantically waving a stick at a picture of the teen up on the speculum.

I started to piece together what this might mean, but before I could come to a conclusion, Dan grabbed my wrist and dragged me towards another metal door.

I yanked it away. "I can walk, you know."

Dan ignored me and hit a button, and the iron door slid open. We walked into a room the size of a broom closet. The door slid shut, and there was a humming sound as we descended.

"Is this an elevator?" I asked Dan.

"Yeah." Dan confirmed. "Like I said: awesome redstone people here. But why concentrate on the boring stuff? We also have other cool things here. Like, for instance, there's that one laser beam contraption that Orca built."

I stare at him. "A what?"

Dan coughed. "Oh, wait. I wasn't supposed to talk about that. Uh, forget I said anything. There's also that huge bunny cannon that we use for—"

"Spill all my secrets, would you?"

Dan jumped an inch into the air. "Jesus! Orca, you scared the crap out of me!"

I turned around to see the person known as Orca. He was a rather skinny person with raven black hair and goggles on his forehead, as well as glasses.

"What?" Orca said. "I like invisibility potions."

"You're wasting them." Dan grumbled. "We're supposed to be using them for missions, not for creeping up on people."

"I find it amusing." Orca's eyes landed on me. "Who's this? Not a new recruit, I hope. She looks like she wouldn't last a minute through training."

I opened my mouth furiously, but Dan cut me off. "Hold on," Dan said. "How long have you been following us?"

"Just got in the elevator when I saw you coming."

"And you couldn't just talk to us like a normal person?"

"I have anxiety issues."

"You know me!"

The doors slid open, and they stepped out.

We seemed to be in an office space, and I was reminded of the inside of a police station when a teenage boy with a crossbow slung to his back ran up to Dan and Orca.

"Oh, thank the gods! You got the call?" the man said.

Dan blinked. "I had it turned off."

"Why!?"

"You expect me to assassinate someone with a PT ringing in my pocket?" Dan said incredulously.

"A what?"

Everyone turned to me. I didn't usually get nervous in front of strangers, but for some god forsaken reason, my brain chose now to enhance my social awkwardness, which I don't have social awkwardness, stop being an idiot, Brain!

"Who's this?" the teen said. "Surely not a recruit?"

This teen had unkempt brown hair and a permanent squint on his face, like he needed glasses.

I shut my mouth and then opened it again to speak. "I came to this place to ask for a favo—"

A girl with flaming red hair ran in and shouted, "We have him! He's in the Emerald Forest!"

The teen cursed. "Seriously? We were just there. Alright, let's move out!"

"What do you mean, we have him?" Dan seemed as confused as I was. "Surely you can't mean...him."

"If you mean the Fisherman, yes." The teen confirmed. Dan opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the red headed girl cut in. "It's just us, Durham, Ender, and Ben.

Dan swore. "Where's everyone else?"

"They're all busy with targets. We don't have much other people."

"What is everyone talking about!?" I shouted. "Can everyone stop talking in riddles and answer me?"

The teen glared at me. "Missy, you should know your place. You clearly don't understand—"

"What don't I understand?" I said sharply.

"You don't understand that these missions are for experienced pros, not silly little girls." the teen said.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a silly little girl then." I retorted. "You, on the other hand..."

Dan pointed to the teen. "Nikai, don't be a jerk." Dan pointed to me. "Cal, be patient."

"Who's she?" the girl broke in, eyeing me warily.

Dan turned to the group. "Guys, this is Calliope. Calliope, this is my team."

"The entrance is getting crowded," Orca observed. "We should prepare."

I gaped. "Wait, we're leaving? Where are we going?"

"We're leaving." Nikai smirked. "You aren't."

I stared at Dan. "Dan, you can't do this to me!"

Dan shifted uneasily. "Sorry, Cal, but this mission is pretty dangerous. I don't think I should—"

"Oh, it's not like I haven't been in life threatening positions before! I killed a pigman in the arena of the...what was that place called? The Nether Prison or something?" I protested.

Seu blinked. "You survived the Nether Prison?"

"Really? That's its name? Huh. Real creative." I said.

"Seu! You believe this girl?" Nikai protested. "She's just a kid!"

"I'm sixteen. And I am coming with you no matter what anyone says." I determinedly said to Dan.

"Sixteen isn't that much." Nikai waved his hand dismissively.

"Says the one who wouldn't even be able to count that high." I retorted to Nikai, who looked extremely insulted.

"We need to leave now," Seu urgently said to Dan. "You need to decide in the next ten seconds whether she should come or not."

Dan glanced at me, who was doing my best to make a 'pretty pretty pleeeeezzzz' face.

"Ugh...fine." Dan relented. "But you better not be getting in the way of any danger and getting yourself killed, because I do not need that on my conscience."

"Yay!" I cheerfully squeezed in between Orca and Dan. "Bounty hunter reporting for duty!"

Nikai turned to Dan. "Are you quite insane?" he asked incredulously. "She doesn't look like a bounty hunter. If anything, she would be the damsel in distress."

"And you would be the idiot hypocrite who nobody likes."

Before Nikai and I could strangle each other, Dan stepped in between us. "Nikai." Dan said dangerously.

I turned away, ignoring Nikai's muttering.

"Let's head out!" Dan bellowed. "Durham! Ender! Ben!"

Three people ran into the room. One of them, a girl with glowing purple eyes and black hair fading into purple hair, said, "Dan! Where is my supply of ghast tears you promised me?"

"Good to see you too," Dan grumbled. "I only got around six." He pulled some teardrop shaped object that was pale as quartz. Dan dumped them into the girl's hand.

The girl grunted. "There's only six."

Dan rolled his eyes. "That's what I said, Ender."

"What are we doing just standing around? Everyone go pack up and we need to get out of here!" A man with a long, pale scar running down the side of his face boomed.

Everyone scattered, including Dan. I didn't have anything better to do, so I followed him to an enormous office space looking place about the size of a living room. There were papers and pictures of people everywhere, strewn apart on the tables, the floors, and even the walls. Next to me was a bulletin board covered with so many pictures and so many red strings connecting everything to everything that it looked like a bird had made it's nest out of pictures and red string.

"Messy," I commented. "Although my room wouldn't have been much better..." my expression went blank as I remembered my room, with posters on the walls and homework and laundry strewn across the floor.

All gone.

"Yeah, well, we don't really take much time out of our lives to keep things clean." Dan said as he reached into a trunk. He pulled out a broken diamond sword. "Wow, I still had this?"

I rolled my eyes. "Case in point."

After a few minutes of chucking things out of random trunks, stuffing random things into his pockets, and generally making his space even messier, everyone else ran to Dan's space.

"Dan, we're waiting on you!" Ender urged. She stopped and observed the office space in which Dan was currently shuffling papers in a hurry. "Wow, your place is a pigsty."

"Shut up." Dan stuffed a paper into his pocket and turned to us. "Okay, I'm ready. Come on, let's go!"

We all ran over to the other side of the room. Dan threw open an iron door, and there was another elevator, except this room was round instead of just a box.

Everyone ran in, and by the time I squeezed myself in, it was extremely stuffed.

The door slid shut, and Nikai growled, "Get out of the way."

I stomped on his foot, making him yelp in pain.

"Whoops. Sorry. Didn't see your foot." I smiled sweetly, the way I always do when I want to piss someone off.

"Why you—"

The door slid open, and Nikai fell onto his face, and I made sure to step on his fingers as I ran out.

"You did that on purpose!" Nikai howled, and I grinned. The side of Dan's mouth twitched, like he was trying not to smile.

I looked around. We seemed to be in an enormous cave, with multiple horses next to us, a bunch of hay blocks, and...

My eyes widened as I saw Shell lying on the ground in front of us.

"How did he—?" I started to ask.

Dan jumped onto Shell's back, and beckoned to me. "Come on!" Dan urged.

I backed away. "Uh, I think I'll pass on this one."

"Don't be a chicken. Get on."

"Chicken?" I echoed, insulted.

"Just get on!"

I obliged, still slightly insulted. "Chicken?" I muttered to myself.

Everyone else got on a horse, and Orca flipped two switches on the wall. Immediately, the roof of the cave started to slide open with a loud grinding sound. Dust floated down, making me cough.

Shell lifted into the air, and Dan yelled, "We'll see you there!"

We flew through the opening in the roof, and shot off.

"Who even is this Fisherman?" I yelled to Dan, who glanced back at me.

"This Fisherman is the number one target." Dan scowled. "He's killed tons of people, and he's a psychopath."

"Why is he called the Fisherman?" I asked. "Does he use a fishing rod to kill people? Wait, does he use actual fish to kill people?"

"Yeah."

"He uses FISH to kill people!?"

"What? No! That would be weird!" Dan clarified. "He uses a fishing rod."

"Well, that's not that weird, I guess..." I muttered. "What makes him so deadly, if he just uses a fishing rod?"

"It's not just any fishing rod. It's enchanted with Reach Ten, Pulling Five, Grappling Five, and Sharpness Eight."

"Sharpness Eight?" I echoed, shocked.

"Yeah. He can pull himself towards people or pull people towards himself, depending on what he wants. He can also grab blocks and items with it, and use it as a grappling hook."

"So, in other words...a multi purpose fishing rod." I summarized.

Dan blinked. "I don't...I guess so, sure."

We were flying over an enormous canopy of leaves that was so thick you couldn't see through it. All you could see was a sea of green.

"There!" I pointed to a clearing just ahead where three specks were sprinting through the forest.

"Good eye. Come on, girl! Let's—" Dan started.

"What is that?" I asked Dan, whose eyes snapped to the black line that was flying towards us.

Wait. That wasn't a black line. That was...

"FISHING LINE!" I yelled, but it was too late. The hook on the fishing line snagged Dan's shirt and yanked him right off.

I screamed as I watched Dan plummet through the sky.

It all happened in a flash—but how? How could the fishing line reach so far into the sky? We had to be around thirty miles up!

Reach Ten, Dan had said. Did that mean that the fishing rod could reach really far?

_Well, no duh, Calliope, it's called Reach for a reason._

"Shell! Get him! Get Dan!" I frantically said, my voice an octave higher than normal.

Shell stopped and plunged into a dive, making me scream. We were practically vertical, and I was barely hanging on. I was grabbing the saddle that Dan had been sitting on, and if that saddle came loose, I would turn into a Calliope pancake at the bottom of the forest floor, and I highly doubted there were any slime blocks down there.

Wind rushed into my face, and my eyes were getting teary, but I couldn't exactly wipe them off, so everything was blurry. As we were getting closer and closer to the canopy, I saw three blurry shapes fighting on the ground. Dan? But how? How could he survive such a fall? I didn't see any water below...

They went out of view, and I braced myself. We smashed through the canopy, and I yelped as branches slashed and scratched at my unprotected face. A particularly large branch nearly smacked me off Shell, but luckily I dodged it somehow.

I was glad when we hit the ground, although the hard landing was not healthy for my crotch.

I slid off Shell and onto the ground.

"Blurg," I groaned, which summed up those entire two minutes that I spent in vertical free fall and smashing through tree branches.

Without waiting for me, Shell bounded off, toppling trees and smashing through greenery.

"Don't mind me," I groaned. "Just lying here."

But I couldn't lie here forever, even though that would be preferable. I had to get up and help Dan, even though I had no idea how I would do that. Also, I didn't want to be found in such an embarrassing position.

I got to my feet, with much groaning and cursing in the process. I stumbled off, following the trail of destruction that Shell had left in his wake.

When I got to the clearing, I saw Shell roaring and blasting fireballs at a man with multiple throwing daggers.

There was a huge rock multiple blocks ahead that was the size of a truck and the height of a house, and a teen with dirty blonde hair was sitting on it while humming placidly and swinging his legs.

The man hurled all his daggers but one, and they all bounced off Shell's hide like darts.

"LHM!" the man roared. "Where's the tranquilizers?"

The other man, LHM, was busy fighting with Dan. "I dunno!" the man responded. "Check in the red shulker box!"

"I can't _do_ that with a dragon blasting fire at me!"

"Well, what do you want _me_ to do, then?" LHM roared, knocking one of Dan's obsidian scimitars out of his hand with an diamond pickaxe. LHM swung the pickaxe down with deadly force, and Dan just barely managed to get out of the way.

Dan tried to get back to his scimitar, but LHM kept him busy with swings that could have shattered obsidian in one shot.

Where to go? I glanced towards Dan. He looked like he was doing pretty good, but the guy looked like he was getting somewhere. I ran towards the scimitar, ready to start hacking away at the guy, maybe get a sneak attack on him, when something snagged the back of my shirt.

Uh oh.

I yelped as I was pulled backwards. My head smacked the rock with a loud crack, and I grunted in pain.

"Well, lookie here! You don't look like the potion girl. Or the redhead." the Fisherman tapped me on the head, grinning.

I ripped off the hook and dived at him, but he kicked me backwards, and I landed on the grass with a grunt.

I got up just in time to see the hook flying towards me. It lashed across my face, and I doubled over in pain, blood dripping from my cheek.

"You're not much. Who could you be?" the Fisherman lashed out again, and I barely managed to dodge again. "Maybe Dan's...guuuuuurrllfrieeeend?" the Fisherman did a little twirl with his fishing rod and sent his hook towards my foot. It snagged my foot, and pulled me off my feet. I landed on my back, and wildly scrabbled the ground as he started dragging me towards him.

I pushed myself up, but was knocked down again with a flick of the Fisherman's wrist.

I reached for my foot, trying to take it off, but I could barely reach. With surprising strength, the Fisherman lifted me into the air by my foot.

"Hmm." he dropped me, and I landed in a heap on the ground. "Personally, I don't see what he sees in you."

The Fisherman dropped down from the rock onto the ground. He grabbed my throat and lifted me into the air.

"Not much of a fighter, are you?" he commented.

I grabbed his wrist as he slowly crushed my windpipe. I struck his throat as hard as I could with my hand, and he staggered. I struck him again, and he dropped me. I lay curled on the ground, desperately trying to catch my breath.

"I changed my mind. You are a fighter. _Eugh_." the Fisherman gagged. With a casual flick of his hand, the fishing rod slammed into my chest and sent me flying off the rock.

_Knockback_, I thought dizzily.

"I don't like to kill girls." the Fisherman massaged his throat. "I'll make an exception. My, aren't you special?"

"I don't feel that way..." I mumbled.

Suddenly, the sound of horses hooves hitting the ground filled the air, and the Fisherman cursed. "LHM, RHM, finish the fight and let's go! Heh. Fishnish." the Fisherman muttered to himself.

I wanted to let him know how much of an unfunny pun he'd just made, but I felt my consciousness fading.

No! Stay awake!

_But I don't wanna..._

You doof, he's getting away!

_Everything going black..._

As I had this extremely riveting conversation with myself, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Dan had keeled over and was lying unconscious on the ground while Shell was thrashing around violently, blasting fire everywhere and smashing things with his tail.

Just shut your eyes for a moment...just a mo...ment...

As I slipped into black, I heard clearly as if he was whispering into my ear, the Fisherman say: "Know when to give up, girl. Heel."

* * *

I woke up to the smell of bacon.

Yes. Sizzling, crispy bacon.

"So. The sleeping beauty wakes."

My head felt too heavy to lift, so I turned it as much as I could. I expected to see a smirking Dan, but instead I saw a smirking Nikai, which was not as endearing as a smirking Dan.

"What?" I hoarsely said, which could have meant a lot of things. Like, _what am I doing here_? Or, _what happened_? Or, _what happened to Dan_? (Not that I care.) But it most likely meant just _what?_

"Well, we came and we found you guys unconscious, including Shell, so naturally we assumed that the Fisherman and his henchmen had beat your guy's butts. Ben and Durham went to follow him into the woods, but most of us agreed," Nikai coughed, "most of us agreed that we should wait for you guys to regain consciousness, even though it would most likely take at least two hours, and I was righ—!" Nikai coughed again.

Nikai glared at me. "Most of us agreed to wait for you guys. That means not all of us agreed. Especially—"

"Alright, I get it." It could not have been more obvious that Nikai did not want me around, and to be honest, I did not give a crap. All I wanted was bacon, and ten buckets of water.

I sat up, and glanced around. It was around sunset, and we'd set up camp in the clearing. The girl named Seu was cooking bacon and eggs on a frying pan, and she flipped the bacon with tongs.

Breakfast for dinner? Yeah, sure. That was about normal compared to being beat up by a guy with a fishing rod.

"So you're up." Seu said without looking at me. "I'm Seu, but you probably know that already. Sorry we couldn't meet under different circumstances."

"Is is always that rushed?" I asked, taking a sip from a water bottle on a log.

Seu chuckled. "No, you just came in one of the good days. It's usually worse."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you saw Dan's office. We don't get much breaks." Seu flipped the bacon. "Sorry I'm not very good at introductions. Usually when I meet new people I'm arresting them or beating the snot out of them."

"I think you're doing good so far," I said, my eyes on the bacon.

"Hey, Durham! You like your eggs fried or scrambled?" Seu called.

"Fried!" Durham called back.

I stared at the scar on his face. "What happened to him?"

"Had a bit of a run in with a pillager outpost. Got an axe right to the face."

"Oh." was all I could manage.

"He looks big and scary, but he's a big softie. Don't want to get near him when he's pissed, though. Once he one shotted an iron golem with his fist." I blanched, and Seu laughed. "I'm just kidding. Though he is kind of scary when he's mad."

"By the way, what happened?" Seu asked, and I explained what had happened, what with the free fall and the getting beat up by the Fisherman.

Seu nodded. "Well, that explains why Dan had his elytra on."

"A what?"

"An elytra. It's like a set of wings that helps you glide down."

I blinked. "So...he flew down?"

"No, he glided down."

I didn't see much difference, but I went on with the conversation.

"By the way, where's Dan?" I asked. "I don't see him."

Seu's grin shrank. "He's, uh...kinda unconscious."

"Wait. How long has it been since the fight?"

"Uh...two hours?"

"I've been unconscious for two _hours?_"

Seu held up her hands. "Don't worry, Dan is fine. Judging from the wound on his head, he took a bit of a nasty blow from a pickaxe to the head. He'll be fine. He's just resting on that log over there." Seu pointed to a nearby log, where Dan was lying, apparently unconscious.

"But do we know where the Fisherman is?" I asked.

Seu frowned. "Well, he seems to have left a clear trail, which isn't like him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he usually covers up his trail pretty good. He doesn't let people follow him unless he wants us to. The only reason we found him this time is because he made a tiny mistake."

"So..." I said slowly. "Essentially, we could be walking into a trap."

"Probably." Seu tasted a bit of bacon. "But then again, we can't just let him get away. I think—"

Someone burst into the camp, making Seu jump.

"No monsters seem to be nearby." he had brown hair and green eyes, and was wearing a ski jacket. His eyes brightened upon seeing the frying pan. "Ooh, bacon!" he moved towards he pan, but Seu pointed the tongs at him threateningly.

"It's not done, Ben, and you'd do well to wait until it's fully cooked." Seu waved the tongs in his face.

"Fully cooked?" Ben protested. "That one's burnt!"

Seu hastily turned back to the frying pan, and Ben glanced at me.

"Hi," he said. "You good?"

"Yeah," I said.

There was an awkward silence as Seu hurriedly flipped bacon.

"It's done!" Seu called, and everyone started rushed in to start eating. I stood, and almost immediately sat back down. I let out an involuntary groan of pain as my head spun.

"Maybe you shouldn't stand," Seu said as she put two strips of bacon and eggs on a plate and and handed it to Ben, who handed it to me.

"It's ok," he said when I tried to protest, "I'm not hungry, I ate a pork chop a few hours ago."

I hadn't realized how hungry I'd was. I hadn't eaten since I'd been captured by the pigmen, which felt like forever ago. It was shocking to realize that it had only been one day since then.

Nikai stared at the eggs on his plate. "I like my eggs fried."

"Well, then you should have told me, and I would have whipped up some fried eggs for you," Seu said briskly. "Go on. Eat."

I didn't have any utensils, so I started shovelling food into my mouth with a hand, but stopped at the look on Nikai's face.

"Uh—" I started, and Seu handed me a fork. "Here," she said. "I have a few others."

"Thanks," I said as I started eating ravenously.

There was nothing but the sound of metal rubbing against paper plates, when Ben said, "So what's the plan?"

Ender set down her plate. "Well," she started, "the Fisherman left a clear trail, which suggests that he could be trying to be leading us into a trap."

"Suggest?" Nikai snorted and nearly choked on his bacon. "He never lets people follow him unless he wants them to."

"Maybe he was too rushed and couldn't cover his tracks." Durham suggested.

"No, that's not it." Orca spoke up for the first time, and everyone glanced at him. "As Nikai said, he never lets people find him unless he wants them to. Even if he was being chased by an enderdragon, all he would have to do is cover his trail even for just ten blocks and it would be impossible to find him. He could have easily killed Dan and Calliope if he wanted to. They were defenceless and unconscious. No, he wants us to follow. The Fisherman is a psychopath, and people like him play with their food before eating it."

Everyone was silent at this grim proclamation.

"So we're walking into a death trap with no choice but to follow him and hope we don't die." I said, and all the eyes in camp turned on me. "Where's he headed? What's the general direction he's going?"

"Well," Ben shifted uneasily. "He seems to be heading north west. He's heading somewhere, but the only structure within 500 blocks of here is...Kiosk's Temple of Entity."

Everyone dissolved into muttering.

"Trust him to head towards such a controversial place." Ender muttered.

"Sorry, but...what happened there?" I asked.

Nikai snorted. "You are painfully ignorant, girl. You're sixteen, you're in grade 10. You should know."

"Well, I wasn't the most attentive person in school, so you'll have to enlighten me since you're so smart." I said sarcastically, and Seu snickered.

"Well, this guy named Kiosk, who was a huge supporter of Entity 303, or Klith, made the temple just for him during the First Great War." said Nikai. "It's also the place that Klith killed 73 people under a flag of truce."

I stared at him. "He what!?"

"Yeah, it caused a big uproar and that was the first time that people actually started paying attention to him. Before that, he was just making big threats about how he was going to take over the world, how he was going to kill tons of people if no one did anything, the usual megalomaniac claims. Eventually, I guess, he just wanted people to pay attention to him. And he got his wish. You've gotta be a big psychopath to kill even one person under a truce. I don't think even Fisherman would do stuff like that." Nikai finished.

"So it's settled?" Ender asked. "We're going there tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Nikai choked. "We need to go now!"

"Nikai, you don't expect us to keep chasing after Fisherman until we collapse of exhaustion?" Durham asked Nikai.

Nikai threw his hands into the air. "So then are we going to sleep and let Fisherman escape?"

Seu sighed. "You both have a point. We should rest, seeing as we're all tired. Let's wake up early in the morning and pack up."

"All tired?" Nikai protested. "We didn't even do anything! Dan and—uh, that girl are the only ones who have done anything—"

Orca jumped up and smacked Nikai over the head with a rather thick log, knocking him out.

"Orca!" Seu said.

"What?" Orca said. "He was getting on my nerves."

The side of Seu's mouth twitched. "Alright, good night, everyone."

We all laid down and like a light, we were out.

I stared at the night sky for a long time before drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The Fisherman was fishing.

_How_ _ironic_, he thought. _My nickname is the Fisherman, even though this is my first time fishing. It's oddly...tranquil_.

Of course, he should have known it wouldn't last long.

"Yes, quite calm, isn't it?"

The Fisherman whipped around, his fishing rod at the ready. Standing in front of him was a man that was wearing what looked like a tattered white hood. He had auburn hair, and his eyes were blood red.

"Entity 303." Fisherman was calm. "I suppose I should be scared?"

"Only if you give me a reason to. And please don't call me that horrible name. I am Klith." Klith responded coolly.

"Tell me about it," Fisherman grunted. "What kind of name is Fisherman? Do people tremble in fear when they hear my name?"

"I'd assume they do," said Klith, but Fisherman cut him off.

"Yes, but it's the reputation, not the name." Fisherman said indignantly. "Someone who doesn't know me would hear my name and think, why is he called the Fisherman? What, does he kill people with raw fish?" Fisherman snorted.

"Yes, well." Klith was amused.

"Anyways, get to the point. What do you want with me?" Fisherman asked suspiciously.

"I want a certain person. The girl." Klith said.

Fisherman frowned. "What girl?"

"The girl you met today." Klith said. "Get her to me, alive, and you will get a very large sum of money."

Fisherman's mouth twitched, as if he was trying to suppress a smile. "That's all?"

"Yes."

Fisherman let loose a loud laugh. "That girl is hardly worth my time. It'll be child's play to get her."

"Well, do it, then. And kill the others if you want to. I don't care about them." Klith stepped back and spread his arms. "You have 24 hours. Bring her."

"I will. You can count on that." Fisherman chortled.

"Good." Klith dissolved into red dust that scattered and was blown away by the wind.

Fisherman chuckled. He would be catching more than fish tomorrow.

* * *

**Woo, this chapter was a roller coaster to write, even though it was just a set up chapter. Especially with me double guessing myself and adding random things to the chapter, although that's no excuse to not update for an entire month.**

**I will update in under a month next time, I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die.**

**I think I said it right.**

**_Krios_**


	13. Please Stop Stabbing Me

***voice muffled* I am sub human trash and I am sorry for making you guys wait. Honestly, if this happens one more time, I will NOT even consider myself as a human. Just so many trash. I am so sorry for making you guys wait.**

**Honestly, I don't even have any excuses. This is just pure laziness on my part.**

**Thank you guys for being patient, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**P.S.**

**I couldn't find a good way to describe the Temple of Entity, so just think of it as a Chinese temple times a thousand.**

**I know, I do not have god-like descriptive powers, unlike some authors who spend way too much time describing buttons on a main character's shirt than actually telling stories.**

**Anyways, g'day and have fun.**

**_Krios_**

* * *

Please Stop Stabbing Me

When I woke up I felt like someone had snapped my spine in my sleep.

Seriously, you would not believe how uncomfortable it is to sleep on a log with nothing soft on it whatsoever. Not ever a thin layer of leaves. It would have been more comfortable if I'd slept on the grass.

I squinted at the sun and shielded my eyes.

"Go away," I mumbled.

"Cal, it's time to go."

I groaned and rolled off the log I was sleeping on onto the ground. "Idonwanna." I groaned again.

"Cal, get up or I will pour a bucket of water on your head."

My eyes snapped open, and I saw Dan's grinning face.

"_Dan_—!" I started, then stopped. "Ahem. Uh, hi, Dan."

Dan looked amused. "Did you miss me?"

I scoffed. "Ha! As if."

"Really?" Dan smirked. "Because I could have sworn you were happy to see me."

"Would you two stop flirting and get packing!" Nikai snapped.

"We are not—" I started.

"Nikai, shut it." Dan said, then grinned at me. "So, anything interesting happen while I was unconscious?"

"No, not much." I glanced around the camp. "So why is everyone in a hurry?"

"Why do you think?" Nikai sneered. "We don't have any time. We're going after the Fisherman, obviously."

I blinked. "Now?"

"Yeah, when did you think?"

I huffed. I did know that we would have to move immediately, or else we would lose the trail on Fisherman, but for some reason I hadn't thought that we would be going this soon.

"I don't have much to pack," I said. "I don't have anything."

"Here." Dan rummaged around in his inventory and pulled out an iron sword. He offered it to me.

I took it. It's durability was about halfway used, but who was I to complain? I shrugged and put in in my inventory. "Thanks."

"Hup hup hup, let's go, let's go!" Dan yelled, clapping his hands.

"I hate it when he does that," Seu muttered. She nearly tripped over a large pile of potions and potion ingredients. "Ender!"

"What!?" Ender complained. "Fine, I'm coming!"

Dan pulled a map out of his inventory. "Okay, Nikai, Orca, and Seu will be the advance scouts. Ender, Durham, and me will, uh, follow along, I guess."

"Wow, your confidence and skills as a leader are practically dripping off you," I sarcastically said.

Dan threw a cobblestone block at me and I ducked as the cobblestone flew over my head.

"Shell will follow behind at a distance, but not a far enough distance that he won't be able to get to us if we get in trouble, but also not a close enough distance that it looks suspicious." Dan said.

"He's a dragon, Dan." Ender said. "He'll be suspicious no matter where we go."

Dan ignored Ender and pointed to what looked like a temple on the map. "That's where we're going."

"How are we sure that he'll be there?" Ender asked.

"We aren't." Dan answered.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Ender sighed.

"Hey, it's our only chance. And plus—he left an easy trail going in the direction of the Temple, which means we are probably right." Dan reassured her.

"And plus—he left an easy trail, which, again, he never does, which means this is probably a trap." Nikai pointed out.

"Well, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine," Orca said.

"I'm not wrong." Nikai crossed his arms.

"But it's the only chance we got. And besides—there are seven of us, plus a dragon. I think we can take 'em." Dan said.

"Famous last words," Nikai grumbled.

We all got on horses of our own and rode off in the direction of the Temple.

Riding a horse, to be honest, was not much better than riding a dragon. Some of you horse riders might say otherwise, but the constant potholes and dips and small hills the horses were running through did not do wonders for my crotch.

"When do we get there?" I asked Dan, who was the one steering the horse.

"We're not even halfway yet!"

I groaned, and yelped and the horse jumped and hit the ground running, jolting my crotch.

"I don't know how much longer I can take this." I groaned. "Ow."

We were swiftly moving towards our own doom.

Just like Toni had ran into that creeper the day we fell into the ravine.

The thought of Toni made my fingers twitch towards my sword, like I wanted to find whoever killed Toni and stab her.

Which I would. This was just a 'side quest'. In the grand plan of things, it wouldn't matter if we caught Fisherman or we didn't. The only difference would be if I raided the prison with this team, or without this team.

And there was also a chance that I would die before raiding the prison, but no use being a Debbie Downer like Nikai.

?-V-?

"Wow." Durham stared up at the Temple. "I know that this Temple was the place where Entity 303 was worshipped and where a massacre happened, but that's kind of impressive."

It really was. It was enormous, and impressive, but it had an evil energy that seemed to affect all of us.

Of course, it wasn't actually teeming with evil energy. It just felt that way, but it made me shiver.

"Alright, everyone got the plan?" Dan whispered.

"I still don't think it's a good idea." Ben muttered, tugging at the wire put in his shirt by Orca. "If we'd only had more time, we could have made a better plan. And this wire is uncomfortable."

"Well, you shouldn't even be able to feel the wire, so that's an exaggeration. And unless you want a heavy pair of headphones and a mike..." Orca reasoned.

Ben scowled and tugged at the wire again. "Point taken."

"And stop tugging at the wire, you'll pull it off." Orca pulled Ben's hand off the wire.

The plan was simple, yet risky. Ender handed us paralysis splash potions, which I'd never heard of, but supposedly they would freeze whoever got hit with the potion, so they would stay in the same position they had been in before getting hit with the potion so it wouldn't look suspicious. But we had to be pretty careful to not drop them, as their duration was thirty minutes.

There were two entrances, one on the north side, and one on the south side. So two groups each would sneak into the entrances each and hit the guards with the paralysis potions. There were four levels on the Temple, so all of us would split up, sneak around the temple, and if we found Fisherman, we would click a button on a small device in our pocket, and we would get a signal transmitted to our device that caused it to vibrate.

A stupid plan, but we hadn't had much time to make a genius plan, so we would just have to roll with it.

"Alright. The moment of truth." Dan said. "Ender?"

Ender handed out invisibility and paralysis splash potions.

"Alright, Seu with Ben, Durham with Nikai, Orca with Ender, and me with Cal." Dan said, then pulled me close to him. I knew it was just because he wanted the splash to hit both me and Dan at the same time, but my face reddened anyways.

On the count of five, we all threw them down.

The liquid splashed over me and Dan, and then it dried instantly. I looked down to realize I had become invisible. It had worked. I couldn't see Dan, but I could feel him holding my hand. I was glad he couldn't see me blush.

"Alright, everyone, put on your glasses." Dan called.

Orca had invented these glasses that could let you see invisible people, including ourselves, with the help of Ender and some other smart guys a long time ago. And he'd just happened to bring them along on this trip, which was lucky.

I slipped the glasses on, and found that I could fully see myself now.

"Ok, go time." We snuck towards the Temple.

We headed towards the north one because it was closer.

I saw four guards sitting cross legged playing cards. I guess they were pretty confident.

We saw Durham and Nikai going the same way, and Durham gestured at me. He made a motion like throwing something, then pulled out the paralysis potions.

We all silently counted to three then tossed the potions. They hit the guards, and they froze.

We all crowded through the door way, and found it was even more unnerving inside.

If you looked close enough, there were pictures of people dying, people burning etched into the walls.

The walls had been painted gold, and the floor was stone bricks. There were stairs crossing and weaving through the top of the room every which way, so much that it looked like a maze. There was an enormous statue of Klith in the center of the room, and it was extremely realistic. The statue had a cruel, unforgiving face, and it had a bloodstained scythe on it's back. It was clutching what looked like the Earth on his palm. There were cracks crisscrossing everywhere on the globe.

"That's messed up," Durham muttered.

We saw Seu, Ben, Ender, and Orca enter on the other side of the room. They stared with sick fascination at the statue.

"Come on, let's go." Dan gestured to the others on the other side of the room, and they nodded.

We all went up our own individual staircases, and rushed up them.

Dan checked his potion status, and mouthed to me, Fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes to find Fisherman on this colossal Temple? Yeah, sure. That seemed plausible.

We ascended onto what I thought was the third floor, where there were passageways crisscrossing everywhere.

"God," Dan muttered. "Was Kiosk trying to make a maze or a temple?"

We snuck through the passageways, quickly pacing through pretty much all the hallways in the place.

I was completely disoriented, and by the looks of it, so was Dan.

"Now what?" I said to Dan.

"Shh! Keep your voice down," Dan shushed me and looked around.

"But we haven't seen a guard in—" I started, but was quickly pushed against the wall by Dan as two guards turned the corner. One had a hat, and the other didn't.

"What does Fisherman think he's playing at, disabling all the security measures? It's like he wants them to get him." one said.

"Obviously, you goon, it's a trap. He would never actually let anyone follow him. That's not his style. He's told all the guards that if there's even anything a tiny bit suspicious, they had to lock this whole place down." the other guard responded.

The other one with the hat made a small grunting noise. "Seems like overkill. If he wanted to kill those guys, he would have killed them at the clearing."

"Well, you know his kind. He's always up for a game..." they walked out of earshot, then turned another corner.

I looked worriedly at Dan, and Dan gave me a reassuring look back.

"This doesn't change anything, except for the fact that we need to be more careful." Dan said calmly.

"So then what are we going to do when we find Fisherman?" I whispered.

"We've been over this. We're going to hit him with a paralysis potion, then take out his guards and get him out. Worst case scenario, the plan goes wrong and we have to kill him. We'd still get the money, but he'd be worth more alive."

"But if they lock down the place—"

"They would have locked down the place even if he hadn't ordered the guards to. Fisherman is sneaky, it's how he operates. Now come on. I think I can feel fresh air."

We moved through the passageways, and Dan whispered into his wire, "How's it going?"

"Not good," was Nikai's response. "We almost got caught by guards six times. No sign of him."

"No sign of him up here." Orca said.

"Nor here." Ben said.

Dan cursed. "Damn. Alright, then. Everyone keep looking. We've already burned five minutes, and we only have ten minutes left."

"Got it." everyone said.

"That's bad, right?" I whispered.

"This isn't right. People on the first, second, third, and fourth floor. We should have found him by now." Dan murmured.

"It's only been five minutes," I remind him. "This place is huge. I think you're expecting too much of them. Heck, we've probably explored only half a quarter of the place. You saw how big it was outside."

"Yeah..." Dan said. "That's reasonable. I just have a bad feeling."

We burst outside, and I blinked, momentarily blinded by the sun.

"We're outside," Dan said.

I didn't answer. Some thing wasn't right. There was no reason for it, but I had a bad feeling in my gut. Of course, the bacon yesterday could have been bad, but I had a funny feeling it wasn't.

Nikai said they'd encountered six guards already. In five minutes. Why had we only encountered one?

Suddenly, Dan's wire buzzed. "Dan? We found him."

It was Orca.

"What? Where is he?" Dan said. "Which floor you guys on?"

"The fourth," Orca said. "Come on, he's going to leave if you guys don't get him soon."

But something was odd. His voice seemed...tense.

"Orca? You okay over there?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, but you need to hurry! The invisibility effect will fade soon! We've got nineteen fifteen nineteen minutes left! Anyways, see you soon!"

"What?" Dan whisper shouted into the wire. "What the hell do you mean by nineteen fifteen nineteen?"

No response.

Our eyes met.

"What did he mean by nineteen fifteen nineteen?" I said, confused.

"You tell me," Dan responded. "There's eight minutes, not..." Dan fell silent.

"Well, come on! We need to get to Orca and Ender before they're caught!" I yanked him back inside.

I couldn't think about the fact that they were already caught.

?-V-?

Surprisingly, we found the staircase in about two minutes, which was lucky. We could have been trapped there for the entire invisibility duration. We silently ran up the stairs (which was pretty close to impossible) and Dan nearly ran into some guards up the stair, quite literally. Luckily, I pulled him aside and we both nearly tumbled down the stairs, but Dan grabbed the railing before we could tip over.

"Dan, what are you thinking?" I whispered once they passed by. "They would have plowed into you if I hadn't—"

Dan blanched. "Calliope!"

I blinked. "What?"

"I just found out what Orca meant by fifteen nineteen fifteen!"

"What? What is it?" I felt nervous because of the look on his face.

"It's the number substitution cypher. Orca made me learn it way back when, he was obsessed with codes back then. It's fairly simple, but not very easy to crack unless you take a wild guess or already know the cipher." Dan explained. "You would substitute which units of plaintext are replaced with ciphertext according to—"

"Would you just get to the point?"

"You replace letters for numbers. A would be 1, B would be 2, C would be 3, and so on. What's the fifteenth letter in the alphabet?"

I silently counted. "S."

"And the nineteenth is—"

It dawned on me. I stared at him. "O. So then Orca was saying—"

"SOS." Dan looked horrified. "The universal call for help."

Suddenly, loud shouts and yells erupted from the wire.

"Dan!" Durham yelled. "They know! We need to get out of—"

The feed abruptly cut off, and me and Dan stared at each other.

"What are we going to do?" I stared at him in horror. "What are we going to—"

Something shattered on the back of Dan's head, and mine. Something cold and wet trickled down my head.

I put my hand to my head. When I put it in front of me, I saw milk on my finger.

Dan went still and slowly turned around.

Dan went still and slowly turned around.

Standing there and grinning was Fisherman, with his henchman LHM pointing two crossbows at us.

"Hello, Dan. At the risk of sounding clichèd, we've been expecting you." Fisherman said, his eyes alight with triumph.

"Fisherman." Dan said calmly. I had to appreciate how Dan was handling this. He was pretty calm, despite the fact that we'd been found out and the guards had probably locked all the exits already.

He'd cleaned up since I'd last seen him. He was wearing a plaid shirt which he'd buttoned wrong and was leaning to the side, which made him look like he was leaning to the side a little, and was wearing tight jeans. It kind of disturbed me how much he looked like a scarecrow, especially with that straw like hear and his diabolical grin.

"Follow me, or you will get a crossbow bolt right in your chest, and one in your head." Fisherman threatened. "Understand?"

Dan merely nodded, and I gave him a sharp look.

We followed Fisherman up the stairs and through the endless passageways, while LHM kept an eye on us.

And then suddenly, we burst through a pair of doors and were on the roof of the temple.

The wooden floor was polished so thoroughly that it shined, and we were forced to our knees onto the ground. We were roughly tied together, but we didn't struggle—if we did, we were pretty likely to have an arrow lodged in the back of our heads. I noticed that there was another set of doors far away on the opposite side of the roof.

"Orca!" Dan gasped.

Kneeling on the ground and tied up with blood streaming down their faces, were Orca and Ender.

Orca saw us and yelled, "Dan! What are you—"

RHM, Fisherman's other henchman, raised his pickaxe and smashed him across the head with his pickaxe, making him yell in pain. "Shut up!" RHM yelled.

"Ender, what happened?" Dan asked. "What went wrong?"

"We'd just found Fisherman when he suddenly attacked us with no warning whatsoever! I'm really sorry, Dan, I don't know how it happened!"

"It's okay, Ender. We're getting out of here." Dan soothed.

Fisherman laughed. "HA! Do you really believe that, Dan?"

"You're making a mistake. Shell is going to show up and burn you to a crisp, and then—"

"HA!" Fisherman laughed again. "I knew Shell was coming! I set up a trap for your little dragon friend. She won't know what's coming to her.

I met Dan's eyes, and silently asked with my eyes, _what now?_

The look on his face said _wait_.

The doors behind us burst open, and Nikai and Durham were escorted by an assortment of guards over to us. I was satisfied to see that one of them had a black eye, while most others walked with a limp. One walked through the doors hunchbacked, and occasionally winced and cradled his bits.

"God damn it, Durham." Nikai mumbled, "You weren't supposed to get caught!"

Before Durham could answer, Fisherman glanced at the guards who had brought them. "Where are the other two?"

"Sorry, sir?"

"Where are the other two?" Fisherman yelled. "We need them as well!"

"We're...not sure, sir. We haven't gotten any notice from the guards on the first floor, but it's likely that—" the guard started.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Fisherman snarled. Fisherman whipped the six glasses off of all of us, and shoved them into the guard's arms so roughly that they almost broke.

Orca gave a muffled grunt of protest, but was silenced with a kick in the back.

"Hand these sunglasses to the scouts. They can see invisible people, so have them scout every single floor in the Temple. And for God's sake, don't drop 'em!" Fisherman instructed.

"Yes sir!" the guard obediently said, then hurried away through the doors with some of the other guards.

Most of the guards stayed, and they eyed us suspiciously.

Dan seemed relieved by the fact that at least one group had managed to evade the guards, and he asked Fisherman, "How did you even get these guards to obey you?" Dan asked. "I would have thought they wouldn't have just rolled over for anyone."

"Well, of course, I am a descendant of good old Elias Fischer," Fisherman started with pride, "who was the uncle of—"

"Sorry," Nikai cut in. "But you have a descendant named Fischer?"

"Yes," Fisherman said, irritated. "Got a problem?"

"Well, it's just that your name is Fisherman, and his last name is Fischer, so—"

Fisherman snarled and kicked him in the chest, making him grunt in pain and stumble backwards.

"I hate that stupid nickname!" Fisherman growled. "What kind of name is Fisherman? It doesn't make anyone cower in fear. It doesn't instill terror in the bravest heroes when heard! And you wouldn't believe the stupid rumors—"

"Can you take a suggestion?" I asked.

Fisherman glanced at me. "Yes?"

"How about Hooker?" I asked.

Fisherman narrowed his eyes. "Hmm, yes...that is...wait...HEY!"

There was a flash of iron, and a hook slashed across my shirt. Fisherman reeled me in like a helpless fish. He grabbed me by the neck. For such a skinny guy, he had a grip like a vise.

"Hey!" Dan yelled, but was bashed in the face with the shaft of a crossbow.

"You—" Fisherman snarled, then seemed to compose himself.

"You're a special one that can make me so mad I lose control. You should be more careful. I nearly hurled you off the roof and into the canopy below. And that would be messy." Fisherman chided.

I couldn't speak or make a sarcastic response, because he was strangling me.

He dropped me in a heap, and I gasped and massaged my neck, while Fisherman sighed and straightened his plaid shirt, which did not help in the least.

"Now..." Fisherman pushed down his sleeve and glanced at a gold watch, and scowled. Apparently he was not happy with what he was seeing.

I glanced at his watch, and saw that Seu and Ben had five minutes until their invisibility ran out. It wasn't much time, but it was enough time to either escape or do whatever they needed to do to save us. Call me selfish, but I personally hoped that they chose the latter.

He talked into his watch, "Where are they?"

Orca caught his breath at the sight of the watch. "An Egapti watch."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was pretty surprised when a voice came out of the watch. "No sign of them, sir. Only four of the scouts have gotten back to me, and—"

Suddenly a commotion came from the watch. Multiple people yelled and shouted, and the man on the other end of the watch yelled, "So sorry, sir! I think we found them!"

At the same time, there was a crash and a scream as a person was hurled out of the temple and plummeted down to the forest floor below.

Fisherman cursed. "Damn!"

Fisherman moved towards the door, then stopped.

"LHM, RHM, I'm trusting you to go down there and get them here with force if necessary. You screw up, it'll be you I throw off the Temple." Fisherman threatened.

They both nodded and bolted towards the set of doors. Now it was just us, Fisherman, and his guards.

I glanced at Dan. _Could we take them? _I silently asked.

Dan shook his head slightly.

"What are you even going to do with us?" Dan asked. "Why not kill us now?"

"I want to see the pain in your eyes as I have all of your partners thrown off this Temple. I want to watch as I kill all of your loved ones." Fisherman growled.

"Why?" Dan asked him.

Fisherman grinned. "Cause you've been pissing me off ever since I started up this whole criminal business. Now, when RHM and LHM capture those two brats, it'll be off the roof with these!" Fisherman gestured to us as if we were blocks of dirt instead of people. "Or maybe off the head. That'd certainly be distressing, wouldn't it?"

Dan glanced down at the floor, and I could have sworn his ears opened a little.

His eyes widened, and he yelled, "BACK!" and jumped backwards, pulling me away at the same time.

A hook flew at us, and it was an inch from taking my head off when the floor exploded, vaporizing the fishing line.

Shards of wood and concrete peppered us, and a piece of metal struck me in the face, and I yelped in pain.

It was a hook.

Fisherman had been blasted backwards by the explosion, and was slightly dazed. He fumbled and cursed as he tried to flick his hook towards me and Dan. I noticed that right after the explosion, a new fishing line and hook had appeared on his fishing rod. In the background, Ender and Durham were in combat with the guards while Orca sawed through the rope keeping Nikai bound.

Through the smoke, an enderpearl flew through the air and hit Fisherman in the chest. Instantly, Seu was on Fisherman. She punched him in the face, and he went down.

Another enderpearl was thrown, and Ben teleported next to us. With a slash, he sliced through me and Dan's ropes. I stumbled to my feet and pulled out an iron sword.

Dan and Ben exchanged nods, and we ran around the crater while more guards poured out of the entrance and yelled, waving their weapons around like crazy people.

We ran into the battle and started fighting. Dan slashed a guard with one scimitar, and hilt slammed another with his other scimitar.

There was a loud scream, and Seu was hurled into the air and slammed into the ground and didn't get back up.

Fisherman was back on his feet, his thin frame practically shaking with fury.

Fisherman glared through the chaos straight at Dan. He roared and dashed through the fight, shoving whoever got in his way, coming straight for Dan.

"I'll get rid of Fisherman. What did you do to LHM and RHM?" Dan asked.

"I'll keep it short and say LHM's gonna have a big headache, and RHM'S not going to be able to make any babies anymore." Ben said.

Dan smiled in satisfaction. "Awesome. Now, go!"

Ben bolted into the fray, and I noticed he was heading for Seu.

"You too, Cal! You can't—" Dan started, but there was a roar, and a hook flew out of nowhere and slashed towards Dan.

Dan yelled and brought his scimitars up to block the hook. There was a scrape of metal against obsidian as the hook raked across his scimitars, and suddenly Fisherman was there to bring his rage down upon Dan.

"You have no idea what you've just done!" Fisherman roared, and Dan yelled back in reply, "Go eat pufferfish, Fisherman!"

"AARGH!" Fisherman lashed out with his hook again, and this time he nailed Dan in the foot. Fisherman yanked, and Dan's foot was pulled out from underneath him. Dan impaled one of his scimitars into the floor to keep from getting dragged towards Fisherman and used the other one to slice Fisherman's fishing line away.

But it was too late—Fisherman came roaring down, ready to gut Dan with an iron sword, but I dived forwards and barely blocked the strike.

I slashed it away, but Fisherman came back at me with the sword, and I managed by pure luck to smack it away from me and accidentally poke him in the eye with the hilt.

"Ow!" Instinctively he brought his hand up to rub his eye, which is not a good idea with a sword in your hand.

The sword raked his forehead, and he bellowed in pain. For such a skinny guy, he could yell pretty loudly.

Blood dripping down his forehead into his eyes, Fisherman literally became blind with rage and dived at me.

Okay, I dare you to try not to flinch when there's a skinny teen coming at you with blood streaming down his face with wild eyes and a sword. That is the second, okay, third scariest thing to see coming at you in the world, second place being accidentally looking an Enderman in the eye, and first place being you finishing a build and turn around only to see a creeper already flashing white and ready to blow up.

I screamed, but this time I wasn't so lucky. I lashed out, but instead of flying at me, he aimed next to me. He rolled and landed on the ground smoothly, then whipped around and stabbed me in the back.

I'm telling you, what is it with people stabbing me in the back and/or the chest!? Okay, granted, the first time I got stabbed I did myself, but I then proceeded to get stabbed in the back in the back about only a few hours later, and then this Fisherman guy stabs me in the back in the exact same spot!?

Like, come on! What are the chances!?

I fell to my knees, screaming in pain. There was a thud and a yell, and soon after, Dan's voice said, "Sorry, but this is going to hurt a bit."

He pulled out the sword, and I let out an unholy groaning/screaming sound in pain.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Dan said. He pulled out a healing potion and poured it onto my wound. Immediately it started to heal. It got better, but every time I made a sudden move my wound would still burn.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fisherman laying on the ground, immobile. I started to stand, but my wound burned like someone had poured lava inside.

"You _idiot_," Dan said. "Were you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

"Thought...I'd help." I groaned.

"In what way?" Dan fumed. "Alright. No time to scold you. You need to get out of here."

Fisherman started to move.

"You need to get out of here. You can't risk making that wound worse." Dan said frantically. "Oh, god. DURHAM!"

A guard flew over our heads screaming and slammed into the ground. Durham smashed through a group of guards like they were building blocks and slid to a stop in front of Dan. "What's the problem?"

Dan pointed to me. "Get her somewhere safe."

"No!" I used my sword as a crutch and got shakily to my feet and winced as a flare of pain went through my back.

"Sure thing." Durham lifted me into his arms like I was a rather heavy dog. "Oof. How much do you weigh?"

"Let me down!" I started pummeling his chest like a mad toddler, but yelped in pain as my wound started to burn again.

Fisherman slowly got to his feet.

"Get her out of here, guys!" Dan turned to Fisherman and charged.

Durham charged towards the set of doors on the other side of the roof, slamming through people who tried to get to me.

"GET THE GIRL!" Fisherman roared, and sent his hook flying towards me, only to have it knocked off course as Dan plowed into him, knocking him away.

All the guards dropped what they were doing and chased after Durham.

Seu, Ben, and Nikai slashed through dozens of guards, but they just kept coming from the other set of doors. Ender threw multiple potions filled with swamp green liquid, and it shattered, forming a steaming cloud in the air that made people choke and claw at their faces. A hail of arrows slammed into multiple guards at once that came from multiple dispensers, placed strategically by Orca, who was tossing multiple button sized objects onto the crowd of guards. There were multiple flashes of light, and guards fell to the ground jerking and thrashing as what looked like electricity ran through their bodies.

We were nearly there. Just a little further, and—

The doors burst open, and suddenly I was on a heap on the ground, because Durham had been tackled by an iron golem with a pickaxe.

No. Not an iron golem. LHM.

LHM held his pickaxe up above his head, ready to bring it down.

I yell, "No!" and dive at him, even though it makes my wound burn.

It's pathetic—like an ant jumping at an iron golem—but it gave Durham just enough time to recover.

LHM scowls and his palm comes down and swats me away. A small gesture, like someone slapping at a bug, but to me it feels like the sky's fallen down on me.

I fly backwards and hit the ground, injured and dazed. I try to stand, but fall back down again. The world is spinning and I feel like I'm gonna puke and also my wound is burning again.

Dan yelled something—probably for me to get up and die somewhere safer—but my limbs wouldn't comply.

Everyone's fighting, and meanwhile I'm laying on the ground, trying not to vomit.

Suddenly someone lifts me up and holds a dagger to my throat.

"Don't move or I gut her!" RHM yells.

I bite RHM's hand as hard as I can, and draw blood.

RHM lets out a pig like squeal, and instead of stabbing me in the face, he beats my head with the dagger, so now I have a headache along with everything else.

I elbow RHM and also stomp on his foot. I'm proving too much for him to handle, so he drops me. I try to stand for more than two seconds, and to my delight, I succeed.

Only to be shoved back down by LHM, who's enraged. He raises his dagger and brings it down. I roll out of the way, and it sinks into the wood like a knife through butter. LHM cursed and tried to pull it out.

I quickly get to my feet and kick LHM, who yelps in pain and falls over.

And then I feel the cold metal of a sword to my neck.

I turn to see Fisherman, enraged beyond belief.

"I changed my mind," he snarled.

And he stabs me in the chest.

Time slows down, and almost everyone turns to look at me. Fisherman pulls out the sword, and I drop to my knees, clutching my chest.

There's a roar, and Dan descends down upon Fisherman, swinging his scimitars like a tornado made of obsidian.

I fall on my face, and everything goes hazy.

Suddenly there's a roar, and a burst of heat wraps around me like a blanket. Which is nice, because my skin is ice cold.

There's screaming, and then everything's silent. I'm flipped over onto my back.

"Cal? Calliope! Damn it!" Dan frantically said. "Orca? _ORCA_!"

Orca ran over to me. "Oh, sh—"

"Hey, Orca." I grinned drowsily. "Oh, wow, my fingers are white."

"She's going into shock." Orca said. "I can't..."

I closed my eyes. Everything...going black.

Everything people say about death is wrong. There's no 'my life flashed before my eyes' scenario. No light at the end of a tunnel. Just darkness.

And then...nothing.

?-V-?

"Calliope! Calliope!"

I groaned and opened my eyes. Everyone was staring at me.

"Yeah?" I said weakly.

Dan enveloped me in a hug, nearly smothering me.

"Ow! Hey!" I yelped. "Get off! Ya want me to die?"

And then it hit me. I _had_ died.

But...no pain. In my chest. Or my back. Not even a headache.

"What happened?" I groaned. "How long was I out?"

"Only three minutes." Nikai's tone was dry. "Dammit. Just when I thought we would be rid of her."

Seu gave him a look, and Nikai held his hands up. "Hey. Just kidding."

"What happened?" I repeated.

"This happened." Orca held up a doll with no legs and small emerald eyes.

I stared at it blankly. "It's a doll. Made of fabric."

Nikai scoffed in disbelief. "A doll! As if. _This_, is a totem of undying!"

I stared at him blankly. "You act like I'm supposed to know what that is."

"You don't know what that is? Honestly, what _do_ they teach you in school?" Nikai snorted. "A totem of undying is exactly what it sounds like—it uses magic in order to revert you from a dying state back to normal."

"So...it brings you back to life?" I said slowly. "Like...cheating death, or something?"

Nikai sniffed. "I guess."

"But, then who—" I began.

"Me." Ender piped up. "Dan practically mugged me for it. Fifty emeralds, too. Those things are bloody expensive."

I stared at Dan. "You did, huh?"

Dan shrugged. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Let you die?"

There was a snort, and I glanced behind me and jumped nearly five blocks into the air upon seeing Shell behind me.

"What—" I started.

"Shell came out of nowhere and set literally everything on fire. Including all the guards. Should have seen the look on Fisherman's face. Priceless." Ender laughed.

"By the way, what happened to him?" I asked.

We all glanced at a groaning Fisherman a few blocks away.

We all slowly approached him. Fisherman reached for a fishing rod that wasn't there.

Dan grinned and held up a fishing rod shimmering with enchantments.

"You," he said, "are in a lot of trouble."

?-V-?

They'd tied him up. And LHM, and RHM. And they'd tossed them onto the ground like they were merely sacks of beetroots. What a disgrace. His father, who was the one who started the criminal business, would disown him if he were alive to see him. Fisherman, the most notorious criminal in the world, trussed up like a turkey.

The air in front of him shimmered, and Klith appeared in front of him.

"A lot of help you were." Fisherman snarled.

Klith regarded him coldly. "I assumed you didn't need other people to fight your battles. I was wrong, apparently."

"They caught me off guard." Fisherman said. "It won't happen again."

Klith inspected an obsidian ring on his fore finger. "No. It won't."

"Gonna kill me?" Fisherman said loudly.

Klith smiled. "No, no, no. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. See, I'm not actually here."

"I doubt that there's anyone on this world you couldn't kill if you wanted to." Fisherman said.

"You flatter me." Klith's eyes were colder than the arctic sea. "But I have a plan. And it has already succeeded."

"You wanted me to lose?" Fisherman growled. "You—"

"Yes, I admit I did not want you to win. But because I have a plan. I knew your confidence would be your downfall. But why wipe only some bounty hunters off the map when you can wipe all of them off the map?" Klith seemed to find the ring on his hand very interesting.

"Not possible."

"Oh, but it is." Klith took off his ring and slipped it into Fisherman's pocket.

"I thought you weren't really here." Fisherman said.

"Well, I'm not." Klith said. "Now here is the plan. You will like it."

Klith explained the plan. Fisherman liked it.


	14. Everything Blows Up

**Whaaat? I updated in under a month? Impossible!**

**Anyways, after this chapter, we can finally get back to Toni and her adventure! Yeaaaah!**

**_Krios_ out!**

* * *

Everything Blows Up

I took a sip from my mug of coffee and made a face. "Ugh. Tastes like crap."

"Yeah, but it's _caffeinated_ crap." Dan took a sip from his mug. "Caffeine gives you energy. And we're gonna need all the energy we have for this transport."

That was true enough, but as I took another sip of the stuff, I couldn't understand what people liked about coffee so much.

"Don't we have, like, hot chocolate or anything?" I muttered.

"Oh, tough it up." Nikai snorted as he sharpened his sword. "We're taking the most notorious criminal of the decade on a two hour trip back to base. I'll eat my boots if nothing happens during the transport."

"Wanna bet?" I muttered, but didn't say anything.

"You're right, you know. I'm not going to go quietly. LHM and RHM are going to—" Fisherman started.

"Ender used a very strong dose of drugs on those guys." Dan said, glaring at Fisherman. "Even if they do wake up, they'll probably not be able to feel certain parts of their body. Like, for instance, their legs and arms. Ender, where's the rag?"

"He spat it out." Ender picked up the rag.

"Don't you dare." Fisherman warned. "That thing is revolting, and I will not stand for—"

"Oh, shut up." Ender stuffed the gag back in his mouth and slapped tape over his mouth to keep the rag in.

Fisherman looked like he was about to vomit, and I couldn't really blame him. But then again, he stabbed me multiple times in the back and chest, so I would say he deserves it.

"Can I sell all this stuff?" Ender asked Dan. "Cause it looks like some of this stuff would make for a pretty large sum of emeralds."

"Sure, why not. But not the pickaxe, the dagger, and certainly not the fishing rod." Dan said. "Those are nasty things. The dagger's enchanted with Excruciate VI and Infinity, meaning that that dagger can cause extreme agony to anyone who gets cut by the blade. It's not nice, and certainly not legal."

"Yes, yes, that's all good and nice." Orca broke in, casually snatching a watch out of Ender's arms.

"Hey!" Ender snapped.

"This watch is mine," Orca said. "And it costs more than you could imagine. This is an Egapti Watch."

"And?" Ender said.

"This is a very high tech watch that is state of the art. You don't have a prayer of figuring out this watch." Orca lectured as he strapped the watch on his wrist.

"So how are we going to play this?" Durham sat heavily on a log, which cracked under his weight.

"We're going to tie them to the underside of Shell." The smile on Dan's face was that of an evil scientist's. "Basically, they'll be dangling in the air with nothing but a single strand of rope to support them."

Fisherman blanched.

"But...the ropes won't snap, right?" Ben piped in. Seu was gingerly wrapping his wounded shoulder up. "I mean, we go all this way to get him and then drop him to his death? Not that I care about his well being, but still. He's worth a lot more alive, right?"

"He is, but the rope won't snap. It's very strong, and it's been tested multiple times on anvils and even iron golems." Dan smiled. "Scaring the crap out of him is a bonus. Ok, let's get out of here."

Dan and me tied Fisherman and his henchmen to the bottom of Shell. "I'm sure that the ropes will be able to hold, but will Shell be able to hold them up?"

"Yeah, he will." Dan proudly said. "Once he picked up two iron golems in his claws and crushed them like paper."

I whistled softly. "That's a strong dragon."

Shell lashed his tail and looked at me like he knew what I was talking about.

"Yeah." Dan grinned. "Okay guys, everyone get on your horses!"

Dan bent down, ripped the tape off Fisherman's mouth none too gently, and plucked the gag out of Fisherman's mouth.

"You're lucky. You're about to have a lot of fun." Dan grinned evilly.

Fisherman looked livid.

?-V-?

We flew all the way back to the desert until we could see that desert temple again.

"There it is!" I said, rather unnecessarily.

We set down on the hot sand, and I stumbled off Shell, happy to be off the metaphorical scaly frying pan. Don't get me wrong, Shell was pretty smart, but not the best route of transportation in a desert.

Everyone stopped right in front of Shell and got off their horses.

"Thank god." Fisherman stumbled to his feet and vomited on the ground.

"Ew!" Ender said. "Go over there and vomit, please?"

Fisherman stumbled to his feet and dived at Dan, only to trip and fall on his face.

"You're not getting anywhere, Fisherman." Dan said, looking amused.

Fisherman spat out a long string of obscenities that I cannot repeat.

"Watch your language," Dan waved his finger in Fisherman's face. "I might have to wash your mouth out."

"You piece of s—" Fisherman started to stand, but tipped over after Dan shoved him.

"Where's the gag?" Dan asked.

"You have it." Ender answered.

"Oh, yeah." Dan pulled it out and stuffed it in Fisherman's mouth.

Fisherman's eyes bulged, and he spat it out. "Listen here, you little brat! As soon as I get out of these ropes, I'm gonna flay you alive!"

Me and Dan exchanged looks.

"Now you better let me go this instant, or I—" Fisherman demanded.

Dan lifted him up and set him on his feet.

And then he punched him in the face, knocking him flat.

"That's not what I was conveying with my eyes, but sure, that works too." I shrugged.

"Jesus, Dan. You need to be a little less rough with your captives. They might cost less if they're not in mint condition." Nikai chuckled.

"That's a bad joke." Seu said.

"What makes you think it's a joke?" Nikai said, his expression turning comically serious.

Ben chuckled. "You make it sound all ominous and scary, but the look on your face makes it seem like a movie."

We all walked towards the desert temple as Dan and Durham dragged our three captives behind us. Fisherman hit his head on a piece of sandstone, but Dan probably didn't care.

We walked into the desert temple, and Dan counted along the blocks again and tapped a block. The door ground open, and stopped halfway again.

"Really? We're in a hurry here!" Nikai complained.

"Well, maybe it would do a good job if you'd do your job and grease the gears every once in a while." Dan glared at Nikai, who visibly winced.

Once Dan and Nikai managed to pull the doors open, we ran into the room and jumped into the pit in the room, and I only swore once.

After we managed to stop bouncing on the slime floor, Dan placed the blue lever o the lapis block next to the iron door, and we all ran through, though Seu nearly got her head smashed by the door as she pulled the lever out. ('We really need a new method of opening the door,' Orca muttered.)

We walked hurriedly through the...big room? Chamber? Lobby? It's just occurred to me that this place doesn't have a name.

Everyone stopped to watch us lug Fisherman and his cronies through the hall.

We all squished together into the elevator, but instead of going to our floor, Dan pressed a different button.

The door slid open, and we all burst through the doors.

In front of us was a long black hallway. I glanced down. The floor appeared to be made out of some black smooth block.

Huh. Polished obsidian. Never seen that before.

We marched through the hallway all the way to an iron door at the end of the hall.

Dan knocked on the door.

We waited for a moment, and the door swung open to reveal a man.

He was wearing a black jacket with a skull on it, and jeans. He had unkempt brown hair running down the side of his face, and brown eyes. He would have looked handsome, if not for the cruel look in his eyes.

"Danny boy. How have you been doing?" the man smiled and spread his arms. "Not as good as the good ol' days, I seem to recall. Not since you stopped doing it for the money and started doing it for the 'greater good.'" His face was friendly, but his eyes were as cold as packed ice.

"Oh, I'm sorry to keep you standing in the doorway." the man smiled and backed up into his room. Dan reluctantly followed, and so did everyone else.

"Guys, meet Carlos, or—sorry—X-13, isn't it?" Dan turned to Carlos. When he didn't respond, Dan turned back to us. "The most ruthless and power hungry bounty hunter in the world." Dan grinned, but his face was blank. "I seem to remember it was this kid who sliced your arm off." Dan gestured to Fisherman.

I glanced at Carlos's arms. Sure enough, his left arm was made out of not flesh, but some kind of metal. Not iron, though. That was for sure.

Carlos casually glanced at Fisherman, who was still currently unconscious on the ground. He said nothing, but his eyes widened slightly.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Carlos's eyes skipped over LHM and RHM. "I believe this is RHM and LHM?" Carlos asked.

"Yes." Dan said. "Now...I believe you have something for us?"

Carlos's lip curled slightly. "Yes. I believe I do."

He sat down behind a desk. He pulled out a diamond the size of an adult's fist with X-13, Fisherman carved on it. He tossed it to Dan, who gingerly caught it as if it was a dead mouse.

"Show this to the Treasurer. He'll lend you the reward. And in the meantime...leave them with me." Carlos smiled down at the three unconscious people.

Dan looked like he wanted to object, but didn't say anything.

We all walked out of the office, and Ender shut the door behind us.

"Man, that guy is weird." Ben said. "And did you see his arm? I think it was Titanium!"

Ender blinked. "But...isn't that really rare? And...encased in bedrock?"

"Well, apparently he knows how to mine Titanium." Dan shrugged. He didn't look interested in the conversation at all. "Besides, I am the one with the Endsteel chest plate."

"Who is the Treasurer, anyways?" I asked.

"He's this guy who gives out the cash rewards for the people who have been caught. I think he gets the money from the same people who request the people to get caught." Seu said, then blinked. "That was really confusing. But you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I get what you're saying." I said. "So...how much would we get for Fisherman's capture?"

Ender wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure. A lot?"

"Around one million emeralds." Durham broke in. "Oh, and including his henchmen, one million twenty five thousand emeralds."

My jaw dropped, along with Nikai's. "One million? Dear Notch, that's more emeralds than I'll ever make in a thousand years!" Nikai gasped.

"We'll divide it evenly," Dan said. "Orca, divide that by seven. No, wait, eight. Including Calliope." Dan smiled at me.

"Why? All she did was get killed." Nikai said.

"And all you did was get captured." Dan shot back.

"First of all, it was Durham that got us caught, not me, and second of all, we wouldn't have been caught if that stupid guard hadn't yawned and stretched out his arms." Nikai complained.

"Excuses," I muttered, earning a few chuckles from Dan.

"Everyone hush. I did the math, and if I'm correct, everyone gets 156,250 emeralds." Orca proclaimed.

"We're stinking rich!" Nikai gasped. "Ender, you'll lend me some, right?"

Ender let out a singular incredulous laugh. "You make having a lot of money undesirable."

Everyone chuckled at that, and Nikai just looked insulted.

We got back in the elevator, and Dan turned to everyone else.

"Alright, you guys go back to the office."

Nikai looked disappointed. "Why?"

"Because there's no need for all of you guys to come with us. You know how the Treasurer is." Dan said.

"No, I don't." Nikai responded.

Dan pulled out the rag, and Nikai got the hint.

After everyone left the elevator,

I didn't know what to say, so I just stayed quiet.

The door slid open, and it appeared that we were in a white room with a vault in front of us. Upon closer inspection, the room was also made of smooth obsidian, but it was painted white for aesthetics. So was the vault.

There was a slot next to the vault, and a button. Dan pressed the button, and we waited.

"So...how long are we going to have to wait?" I asked.

Dan frowned. "I dunno. It depends. His sleep schedule is pretty unpredictable, so we could be waiting for hours.

"Wait, he lives in there?" I asked.

Dan nodded. "Yeah, he does. I'm not sure what he does in there, actually."

"Isn't anyone worried he'll steal something?" I questioned.

"He won't." Dan's expression was so serious I had no choice but to believe him.

The slot slid open with a clang, and a pair of eyes stared at us. "What do you want?" the Treasurer asked.

Dan frowned. "What do you think I want?"

"Show me the emerald."

"Treasurer—"

"_Show me the emerald_."

Dan sighed and held up the emerald Carlos had given to him.

The Treasurer grunted and slid the slot shut.

The sound of gears grinding and pistons pumping filled the air, and the vault door swung open.

Dan made an exaggerated gesture for me to go in. "Ladies first."

I rolled my eyes at him and stepped inside.

Standing in front of me was the Treasurer, staring down at me menacingly.

He was a middle aged man with an ancient turtleneck sweater that was swamp green. He had mismatched eyes. One matched his sweater, and the other was dark blue.

And then I noticed the treasure.

I'm not sure why I hadn't seen the treasure. It was basically impossible to ignore. Mountains of emeralds, gold, and diamonds were everywhere. I got the feeling that everything in this room would probably be enough to buy the entire world.

Treasurer glared at us. "Fisherman, eh? You don't look like the type of person who would capture a criminal."

"Yeah, well. We had help." I said.

Dan sighed and pushed past me. "Treasurer, just give us the money."

Treasurer scoffed. "Fine, fine. No one stops to talk anymore. It's just money, money money."

Treasurer walked away, and after a few moments, came back. He pulled multiple chests out of his inventory and set them on the ground in front of us.

"There you go." Treasurer growled. "Your emeralds."

Dan looked skeptical. "You mean 1,250,000 emeralds are in these chests?"

"The chests are filled with shulker boxes." Treasurer explained.

"Oh." Dan went up to one chest and opened it. Sure enough, it was stuffed with shulker boxes.

"Yes, well, if you're done, you can leave now." Treasurer glared at Dan especially.

Dan got the hint. He picked up all the chests and walked away without a word.

I blinked at him, then turned to Treasurer. "Uh...pleasure doing business with ya?"

Treasurer didn't say anything, but a frown appeared on his face. "Don't hang around these types of people, girl. It'll ruin your life."

"Cal, let's go!" Dan yelled.

Treasurer sneered at Dan and walked away.

I turned back towards Dan and ran after him. "Wait for me!" As I ran, I looked back.

He didn't.

"So, what's the deal with the Treasurer guy?" I asked Dan.

"He's a bad guy, Cal." Dan said without looking at me. "You can't trust anything he says. You're not even going to see him again, anyways."

I probably should have asked more, but then again, I really didn't care that much.

As we rode the elevator back up to our office, I asked Dan, "So what are you going to do with your portion of the money?" I asked Dan.

"I'mma buy me a solid gold toilet," Dan imitated Nikai.

I laughed. "Seriously, though. What would you buy?"

Dan frowned. "I'm not sure, honestly. I've always thought that even if I was super rich, I wouldn't know what to spend it all on."

"Yeah, me neither, I guess." I said. "It's never really crossed my mind before."

The door slid open, and instantly Nikai was in front of us.

"Did you get it? Did you get the money?" Nikai gasped.

We walked out of the elevator, Nikai straggling behind like a dog.

"C'mon, let's see 'em!" Nikai pleaded.

Dan rolled his eyes and tossed multiple chests into Nikai's arms. Nikai ran off, giggling like a child.

Dan scoffed as we reached his office. Dan stopped upon seeing the pigsty that was Dan's space.

"Oh." Dan said. "Right."

Everyone walked into the space all at once except Nikai.

"I suppose you're here for the money?" Dan asked.

"What else?" Ender asked.

Dan smiled. "I guess you guys deserved it."

Dan handed out multiple chests full of shulker boxes like someone handing out candies at Halloween.

"Well...what now?" I asked Dan.

Dan grinned. "Now, we tell the others about your favor."

?-V-?

"You want us to do what?" Nikai exploded.

"Listen guys, to be honest, I only came here with Dan because he told me you guys could help me with my favor." I said. "But—"

"But no!" Nikai shouted. "You expect us to break into the Nether Prison? That's ridiculous. Dan, tell her that's ridiculous."

"It's ridiculous," Dan said with a tired look on his face. "But I think we owe her something."

"Owe her what?" Nikai yelled. "Once you think about it, she didn't help with anything on this whole Fisherman ordeal! I've said it once, and I say it again: all you did was get yourself killed!"

"I'd like to remind you that you do not, in fact, speak for the entire team." Seu said.

"Seu, there's no way you can possibly be considering this. It's the Nether Prison, for crying out loud." Nikai said weakly. "I hear they've tightened security a hundredfold ever since that rebellion back in 2016."

"Well, you snuck into the Temple of Entity, didn't you?" I pointed out.

"That was different." Ben broke in. "To be honest, it wasn't all that hard to get in. After all, the guards weren't even that focused on their job. There, the guards will be wither skeletons, not humans or pigmen. Wither skeleton's don't have the ability to be bored, nor do they need to rest. They will stand at attention until they turn to dust, or something approaches them. I speak from experience."

"Not that we wouldn't help you." Seu broke in. "But it's kinda hard, you know?"

Ender frowned. "That's certainly an understatement. I don't see us breaking into the most hardcore fortress in the Nether."

"Yes, I must admit, I don't see us doing that." Durham said.

"What about you, Orca?" Nikai prodded him. "You're the only one who hasn't voiced your opinion."

Orca was standing with his back against the wall and his arms crossed. Orca straightened and rubbed his neck. "I have to agree with Nikai, as much as I hate to admit it. It wouldn't be smart to raid the Nether Prison with what we have now."

"Well, we have 1,250,000 emeralds, right?" I argued. "Maybe we can buy all the things—"

"I am not wasting a single emerald on this fruitless ordeal." Nikai said, outraged.

Dan sighed and rubbed his temple. "Okay, let's discuss this later, okay? I think I'm gonna go entertain Shell."

Nikai scoffed and stormed away, along with Durham and Ender. Ben and Seu glanced at each other uneasily before walking away.

I followed Dan through into a circular elevator. After the elevator door slid open, Dan walked out into the cave, and Shell was there laying on the ground. Upon seeing Dan, Shell bolted upright.

"You know, for a dragon, Shell is extremely like a dog." Dan chuckled as he pulled out his obsidian scimitar and pointed at a group of dummies. Shell immediately pounced upon them and tore most of them apart, flattening one of the dummies with his tail and setting the other remaining one on fire in a matter of seconds.

I watched the dummy go up in a wave of purple flames. "I just need to do this, you know? My mom's somewhere in there, and my dad, probably. My sister's gone. Her room went up in flames. I didn't even see it happen. I don't think that there was anything I could do. To think that my sister was all alone while her house burned down around her..." my hands formed into fists. "I can't let it go unpunished. I can't."

"Damn." Dan said. "I...don't know what to say."

"It's better if you say nothing." I sighed. "Those jerks...I'm not gonna let it go." I stood and walked away. "I'm going to sleep."

I rode the elevator back down, then walked all the way back to Dan's office. It was slightly less messier now that Dan had cleaned it a little. Not like a hurricane blew through, and more like a tornado blew through.

I sat in Dan's comfortable office chair and closed my eyes.

Soon.

Seu poked her head into Dan's office space. "Uh, me and Ben are having lunch in the cafeteria. Care to join us?"

"Sure, why not?" I said, getting up from my chair.

"Oh, are you tired?" Seu asked.

"Nah." I grinned. "I actually need something to take my mind off things."

I walked to the elevator with Seu, and half heartedly tried to listen to their conversation.

We started walking through the lobby/chamber/big space to the crowded cafeteria. I was glad to see that there was no one fighting each other. Everyone stopped talking and looked at us.

"I guess we're popular now that we caught Fisherman." Ben said dryly.

"Not popular. They're just interested in us." I said, which came out slightly more depressing than I intended.

"What do you want?" Seu asked me, and I blinked. "I dunno. A steak, I guess."

"They only do well-done, is that okay?" Seu said.

"I don't even know the difference, to be honest." I shrugged.

We got our food and sat down at a table. I ate my steak, and joined in on the conversation Seu and Ben were having about funny things they did as kids. I entertained them with the story of the time I was at camp and burned down the lodge, and they were in hysterics at the end.

It even took my mind off the subject of revenge for a moment.

And as I laughed with Seu and Ben, I probably should have known that it wouldn't last so long.

?-V-?

As we got back to the office, Nikai was excitedly discussing new targets to capture with Dan.

"...there's Karen Sharen, she's a target for blowing up a temple dedicated to Notch, and she's worth around 500,000 emeralds. Not much compared to Fisherman, but still decent. And look, this target came in 30 minutes ago. Her price is..."

I walked with Seu to her space, which was considerably cleaner than Dan's space, with multiple neat stacks of papers in one corner, a lamp and a notebook, and multiple pictures of Ben and Seu in one corner. I noticed her discreetly slip one picture off the wall, and I thought I saw Ben kissing Seu's cheek, but I decided to tease her about it later.

"This place is good to look at after Dan's office." I remarked, and Seu grinned. "Yeah, Dan's place looks like an atomic bomb blew up in it."

"Well, not so much anymore." I commented. "Now it looks more like a block of TNT blew up in it."

Dan walked into the office with Nikai trailing behind him.

"You wouldn't mind a million more emeralds, right?" Nikai said to Seu, ignoring me.

"More is always nice," she said, straightening.

"We haven't decided yet, Seu." Dan said wearily.

"Well, this target came in 30 minutes ago, and she's worth another one million emeralds. And it's an easy job!" Nikai said enthusiastically.

"One million emeralds and the phrase 'it's an easy job' don't go together." Seu said skeptically.

"Well, they do now! It's a twelve year old, for crying out loud!" Nikai cried.

I straightened at the exact same time Seu said sharply, "You want us to hunt down a twelve year old?"

"I mean, it's easy money! Her name is Toni Deniara, and—"

The world went still, and the sky crashed down around me.

"I'm...sorry?" I said.

"...and apparently she's headed for Hiemx, which is only 40 minutes away—"

"Nikai, what was her name?" I asked, even though I already knew.

Nikai glared at me. "It's Toni Deniara, girl. Are you deaf?"

Dan saw my expression, and he frowned. "Cal? Are you ok? You look sick."

"She...that's..." I could barely speak. "That's...my...sister."

Dan paled. "What?"

"That's my sister." I said, dizzy with shock. I didn't know how to feel about this. This meant that somehow my sister was alive and kicking. But why did she have a bounty on her head? A million emeralds? Why? And how?

Nika laughed. "Ha! You're joking. There's no way...right?"

Seu stared at me. "This girl is your sister? But then...why—"

"Dan!" Someone shouted.

Ender ran into the office block holding multiple papers. "You have to see this!" She shoved one paper into Dan's arms.

Dan's eyes skipped down the paper, and he paled even more.

"Cal," he said in a strangled voice.

"What?" I ran over to Dan's side and read the words:

CALLIOPE: WANTED BY KLITH

PREFERABLY ALIVE

REWARD: 500,000 EMERALDS

There was a picture of me under the prize money.

"Wanted by Klith..." Seu mouthed, then looked up at me in horror.

"That's not all," Ender handed Dan the other papers.

On one of them were the words:

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

REWARD: 50,000 EMERALDS

And a picture of Dan on the bottom.

Dan frantically flipped through them. They all said the same thing, but with pictures of all of us on each one.

"Why am I less than the girl?" Nikai cried.

Seu scorched him with a look that could burn through bedrock. "Is THAT honestly the only thing you're worried about now!?"

There were multiple shouts, and everyone ran into the office space.

Durham looked pale. "Did you see—"

"Seu?" Ender asked. "How many people saw you in the cafeteria? And how many people saw you go down the elevator?"

Seu turned even paler. "Um...a lot?"

Ben bolted over to the circular elevator and hit the button to open the door. It made a buzzing sound and turned red.

"The elevator's not working!" he yelled.

"But it was working thirty minutes ago!" Dan pushed Ben aside and punched the button. It buzzed again.

"Oliver." Seu realized. "He has access to all of the elevators. He must have turned this one off."

"What about the other elevator?" I asked.

"That's a public elevator, so he won't be able to turn that one off." Dan said. "How long ago did you get those papers?"

"About three minutes now." Ender said.

"Well, it'll take two more minutes for them to figure out that we're literally in the middle of them!" Nikai yelled. "We need to get out of here before they find us!"

Everyone nodded and sped off, including Dan.

I ran after Dan, and asked, "Do you have a better weapon than this?" and held up my iron sword.

Dan glared at me and pulled a diamond sword out of his inventory. "Use this. It was in LHM's inventory."

I took the diamond sword.

"Hurry up, Ender!" Durham shouted.

We all huddled in together, and Ender threw down the potion of invisibility. It splashed over all of us, and we turned invisible.

Not a moment too soon, as the elevator door slid open and multiple people charged into the office. We all quickly backed away, and Dan pulled me out of the way of a bounty hunter with a harsh scarred face.

"Go," Dan whispered. "Go go go."

The elevator doors started to shut, but I stuck my foot out and the doors shut on my foot. I hissed in pain, but the doors slid back open.

We all crowded in, but someone happened to glance at the elevator. I'm not sure how he saw us. Maybe there was shimmering in the air, or maybe he saw the elevator doors slide open, but he shouted "Hey!" and ran towards the elevator.

The doors started to slide shut, but the man grabbed the doors and forced them open.

Someone must have kicked him, because he staggered backwards, and the doors shut.

?-V-?

Oliver was readying himself. He pulled up his sleeve and flicked a few switches on his mechanical arm, and it clicked and whirred. A gleaming dagger popped out of a slit in his wrist, and he smiled at it.

"Nice arm, Oliver." Fisherman said.

"Shut it, Fisherman." Oliver snarled. "And it's X-13. My guards are going to escort you to the prison, and you are going to stay there until some person takes you to the Wall. You remember what the Wall is, right?"

"Only the most high tech, impossible-to-escape prison ever. You've only threatened to put me there three thousand times." Fisherman's tone was dry.

"Yes. And if you excuse me, I have business to attend to." he zipped his ski jacket up and smiled.

Fisherman spotted the papers on his desk and smiled. "Yes. You go do that."

"I don't like your tone of voice, Fish."

Fisherman's expression quickly turned annoyed. "Don't call me Fish ever again."

Oliver chuckled. "Sure, Fish." And with that he left the room.

The multiple guards in the room handcuffed Fisherman and his still unconscious henchmen to each other, then escorted them out of the room. They were headed towards the elevator when Fisherman looked at LHM and said, "Now."

LHM's eyes snapped open, and he backed up, crushing one guard into the wall with his back.

The other three guards turned, but LHM snapped through the handcuffs as if it were made of sticks.

"Easy on the wrists!" Fisherman snapped.

LHM bashed one of the guards into the wall, but the two remaining guards pulled out crossbows and fired into LHM's chest.

LHM grunted but didn't stop. He slapped the crossbows away and flattened the third guard with a punch that sent him flying across the hallway.

Among the chaos, Fisherman discreetly pulled an obsidian ring out of his pocket and pushed the ruby that was on the ring. It clicked and glowed red.

The last guard had recovered his crossbow and was aiming at LHM's head. "Don't move, or I'll shoot!" he yelled, his voice quivering.

Fisherman groaned at the line. "Really? There were so many more impressive things you can say and _that's_ the cliche you come up with?"

LHM brought his palm crashing down upon the guard, crushing him into the the floor.

"Now get me out of these handcuffs," Fisherman snapped. "And RHM, too."

RHM, who was now conscious, glared at LHM. "Showoff."

"You're welcome," LHM said as he opened the handcuffs with the keys that he'd taken from the guards.

"So what now, boss?" RHM said eagerly.

Fisherman smiled. "Now we wait for the next stage of the plan."

?-V-?

The elevator doors slid open, and we quickly speed walked out of the elevator.

"Okay, everyone check in." Dan whispered.

Everyone whispered individually 'here'.

"Okay, good. Let's head out."

We all snuck out of the elevator successfully, avoiding people and dodging people who got too close. One person nearly slammed into me, but Dan pulled me back.

"We're going to make it," I whispered.

Wrong.

Someone burst out of the elevator, followed by multiple people with goggles. The someone was Carlos, who was also wearing one of these goggles.

Orca swore. "Mine? No. Not—"

"There!" Carlos roared. "Throw the bottles!"

Bottles sailed through the air, and Dan's eyes widened. "Look out!" he cried, but too late.

The bottles hit us in the face, shattering upon impact and covering us with milk.

And we became visible.

Dan paled. "Oh no."

"How did they see us?" Ender shouted.

But there was no time—we were being surrounded.

"Hey, look! The guys that caught Fisherman!"

"Wait, don't these guys have a bounty on their heads?"

"Yeah, they do! I just got the papers!"

"Hey, look! It's the girl!"

Everyone glanced at me, who paled.

We all drew our weapons, and so did everyone in the crowd.

"Surrender, Dan!" Carlos called. "You're surrounded!"

"Not likely, Carlos!" Dan shouted.

"Fine, then. GET THEM!" Carlos screamed, and everyone charged at us, screaming and swinging their weapons.

Ender threw a potion into the crowd that exploded, sending a wave of flames over the crowd. In the chaos that ensued, Dan shouted, "THE EXIT!" and pointed his sword to a gate on the other side of the hall, right next to the entrance.

We pushed through the crowd, pushing back people who got to close to us. It was chaos: we were hopelessly out numbered, but we were putting up a good fight.

Orca pulled out something that looked like an umbrella and flicked a switch on it. A large transparent dome-like shield spread out over us, forcing the crowd back. Everyone furiously attacked the shield, but it shocked anyone who got too close. We slowly but surely started pushing towards the exit, though Orca looked like he was about to collapse. Durham helped hold the 'umbrella', which was twitching in all directions with every blow that struck the shield.

Multiple people rushed to block the exit, people barring the gates with metal bars and people guarding the gates.

Someone smashed through the crowd and slammed into the shield, nearly blasting the umbrella out of Orca's and Durham's hands.

It was Carlos, who did not appear to be affected in any way by the electric shock given by the shield. He slammed his artificial arm into the shield again and again, making the umbrella shake.

"I can't—hold it—" Orca gasped, his face laced with sweat.

Dan stared at Carlos, who was trying to bash his way through the shield.

Dan pulled out a bright purple crystal and spoke into it. "Shell, we need you now. Shell, get to the lobby NOW."

I stared at Dan like he was crazy, but he turned towards Carlos and ran at him.

My eyes widened in horror as Dan tackled Carlos away from the shield just as Carlos was about to break through the shield.

Dan disappeared into the crowd of people and wasn't visible anymore.

I screamed and tried to follow Dan, only to be yanked backwards by Seu.

"You won't last two seconds out there," she said in response to my desperate expression. "You have the highest bounty on your head out of all of us."

I knew she was right, but I couldn't let Dan be swarmed by money-hungry bounty hunters.

People grew even more desperate to stop us from escaping as we got within fifteen blocks of the gates. They bashed the shield with pickaxes, swords, and their fists. But Carlos had taken most of the shield's durability, and it was starting to flicker and diminish.

We struggled three more blocks, Nikai, Ben, and Seu slashing people away from inside the safety of the bubble.

"Come on...come on..." Orca snarled.

And then all hell broke loose.

It only took one more strike from a diamond sword to shatter the shield.

And shatter it did.

The umbrella burst into flames, and Orca dropped to his knees, sweating buckets.

The crowd of people roared and rushed in, but were stopped by us.

Everyone was fighting, chaos everywhere, and injured people were lying on the ground, either having been stampeded by the crowd or injured by us.

But we were vastly outnumbered, and we were forced to fight back to back as the crowd closed in on us.

There was no time to speak, for every second wasted was a chance to be captured by the money hungry bounty hunters.

We were not going to make it.

And then the ground beneath us exploded.

I experienced a major sense of deja vu as Shell lifted off into the air, throwing people everywhere with Dan riding on top of him, disheveled but still alive.

Shell swooped down, bowling over a horde of people. Arrows sailed through the air, but were swept aside by Shell's tail right back into the crowd. Shell dived at us, and snagged Seu, Durham, and Orca in one foot, and grabbed me, Nikai, and Ben in the other foot.

Shell lifted off into the air, blasted through the speculum above and into the stone roof below with violet colored flames, and blasted through the opening he had made as the crowd of bounty hunters shouted and screamed in protest behind us.

?-V-?

It goes without saying that hanging from the underside of a dragon with only a single talon holding you up and half-melted stones the size of garbage trucks falling around you will give you a bigger adrenaline rush than any rollercoaster ride.

Nikai looked terrified and was probably screaming, but I could barely hear anything over Shell's roars echoing through the artificial cavern and the sound of flames blasting through stone.

To be fair, I was probably also screaming, so I can't really say anything bad about that.

Eventually we made it to the surface and immediately shot away towards the sun, a huge burning hole left in the ground behind us.

It took Nikai a moment to stop screaming, though that was most likely not because he wasn't terrified anymore and was just tired of screaming.

We flew like this for what seemed like an hour but was probably only around ten minutes. Eventually, Shell dived towards the ground and dropped us on the ground when he was sure we wouldn't break our bones from the fall.

I probably laid there for a long time, and when I did get up, everyone else wasn't much better.

Ben was smacking Seu's back, who was hunched over and looked nauseous. Orca was probably still semi unconscious and was lying on his face in the grass. Nikai was busy vomiting into the bushes. Ender and Durham were probably in the best condition among all of us, as Ender looked pretty normal after downing a vial filled with a storm cloud colored liquid, and Durham was just pale.

Dan slid off Shell, and nearly collapsed when he hit the ground. "Ha," he said weakly. "you guys look like crap."

"We look like crap?" I said. "Look at you—you look like you just jumped through a glass window!"

It was true—Dan had a ton of cuts on him, and there was no other word to describe his clothes than ragged.

"What were you thinking?" I fumed. "Why would you do that?"

"Hey, I'm alive, aren't I?" Dan smiled wearily. "Though I can't say the same for you. You look half dead."

Nikai finally straightened, gasping. "You—" he gulped, then continued. "That was not necessary."

"You're welcome." Dan said sarcastically. "And anyways, I couldn't wait for all of you guys to get on Shell's back, could I?"

"That's a good point, but it doesn't make me want to slap you any less." Ben said, then addressed Nikai. "And mother of Notch, Nikai. You screamed right into my ear. I swear, you sound like a dying piglet."

Nikai looked insulted. "Well, what were you supposed to do, stay quiet? It was involuntary."

"Yeah, I can't shame Nikai on that one." Seu said. "Even you screamed a little, Ben."

Ben pretended to look outraged while everyone chuckled.

Dan's small smile faded when he looked at me, deep in thought. He knew exactly what I was thinking about.

"So..." he started.

"Yeah." I said. "My sister has a million emerald bounty on her head. And I have half that bounty on my head. We're both wanted by Klith."

"But hey, at least that means your sister's alive." Dan said.

"Yeah, but what did my sister do to get herself on the Wanted list?" I put my head in my hands. "I'm just worried for her. She's only twelve."

"Well, Klith is one of the bad guys, right? If Klith wants her, it's pretty likely that she's only wanted because she's a threat to Klith in some way." Seu said.

"Even worse," I said. "Then Klith will want her dead."

"Not to mention that Klith will probably want to go for you more than your sister herself." Nikai added. "I mean, to use you as leverage against her."

I glared at Nikai. "Ever heard of looking on the bright side?"

"I find that it's good to know all the cons as well as pros." Nikai shrugged.

"Well, that's good, cause I can't manage to find any pros in this problem." I put my head in my hands again.

After that there was silence.

I stood. "You know, I only came here for one reason. And if you guys don't like that reason, I'm not gonna force you guys to go with me."

"Wait, but why would you still want to raid that place?" Dan cried. "You wanted revenge, but now that you found out that your sister is alive, why would you still want to do it?"

"My parents are still there, remember?" I remind Dan.

This time, Dan was the one who put his head in his hands. "Of course. You're never going to give up, are you? Even if it makes your life a million times harder."

"Well, I'm not gonna let an inexperienced sixteen year old with no supplies raid one of the world's most secure prisons, am I?" Seu said, stepping towards me.

Nikai perked up. "Wait, what? I thought we agreed not to—"

"You don't speak for the whole group, Nikai." Ben reminded him.

"Not you too!" Nikai said in dismay.

"You know, we don't really have anything better to do, now that we've been out lawed." Durham said.

"Now, hold on—" Nikai said.

Ender snorted, "This idea sucks."

"Has that ever stopped you?" Dan asked.

Ender thought about it. "Nah. Fine, I'm in. But only because like Durham said, I have nothing better to do."

"What about Orca?" Nikai persisted.

We all looked at Orca, who was still unconscious.

"Let him rest," Dan decided.

"Yeah, let's sleep on it." Seu said, smiling.

?-V-?

Klith was sipping wine from a silver goblet when Fisherman walked into the throne room.

Klith looked down at Fisherman. The throne was specially designed to look as if Klith was towering over the people that stood before him. He'd always been one for symbolism.

"Well?" Fisherman prompted. "What do you want? You wanted me here, so here I am."

"Would you not address me with more respect?" Klith stared at Fisherman, his expression neutral.

Fisherman scoffed. "Listen here, Klith. Your undead 'subjects' may fear you, but I am not them. And though I understand that I am not equal with you, I am not some peasant that cowers before your might. So get on with it."

When he was younger, Klith probably would have killed Fisherman on the spot, but he was older and wiser now. There were things he could use Fisherman for.

"I suppose so." Klith said coldly. "Now...to business. I assume you have seen the paper requesting the capture of Toni Deniara?"

Fisherman smiled. "Why, yes. Yes I have."

* * *

***ominous music***

**I'm sure you guys have been excited for the return of Toni Deniara and her companions. Well, they'll be coming soon, so please bear with me. I have no idea when the next chapter might come out, so you should probably read some other stories while I procrastinate.**

**Criticism is appreciated.**

**Have a good day, and stay safe!**

_**Krios**_


	15. Toni: We Visit The Lion's Den

**GUESS WHO'S NOT DEAD AFTER LIKE SIX WEEKS!**  
**And just when I thought I was getting somewhere with the procrastinating. Sigh.**

**Responding to reviews is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and now I finally get to do it! Yay!**

**Responding to Guest: The answer for the first question is definitely going to come in part two. Right now we're in part one, Blast Radius, which is a name you should keep in mind while reading the next few chapters. The answer for the second question is yes, other people can do magic and it was even briefly discussed in chapter four. The answer for the third question is no. I did toy with Calliope learning to do magic later on in the series, but we've already got one OP character in the family.**

**Responding to r0t013: Which brings me to my next topic. Yeah, I do agree with you. It is pretty cliche. I mean, usually you would think that Herobrine would have at least some superpowers. I'm trying not to make Toni too indestructible, and I do think from the realistic side sometimes. I'm the type of guy who criticizes a movie for not making any realistic sense. But she doesn't know how to use her powers yet, which I guess counts for something...? Eh, not really. Also, nice suggestion. I might actually use that, though taking an idea from a reader makes me feel like unoriginal trash.**

**Whoo! I think that's the longest author's note yet.**

**Well, if you were intimidated by this wall of bold text, it's over. Sorry for that, I just had to get it out of the way.**

**Anyways, read on and wash your hands after reading! *wink***

_**Krios**_

* * *

We Visit The Lion's Den (Literally)

If you go to Hiemx on a good day, it's like a nice winter day. Good scenery, nice weather, and light snowfall.

Sadly, we did not come on a good day.

I squinted against the blizzard as snow whipped against my face like dozens of tiny daggers made of ice.

"How much farther to Hiemx?" I yelled to Sam.

Sam squinted against the haze of gray and shouted something.

"What?" I shouted.

"—only 600 blocks—"

I grunted in disbelief. 600 blocks? According to the school textbooks, one hundred blocks was around one hectometer. In regular measurements, one hectometer was around one football field. So essentially we had to struggle through this blizzard for around the amount of time that it would take to walk across six football fields.

Maybe I was overthinking things.

The blizzard was so fierce, so strong, that I couldn't see anything through the cloud of snow blocking our vision.

I heard a shout, and turned. It was Trevor, and he gestured to something. I squinted and saw a spot of black amongst the gray and white fog.

Trevor's horse then turned and trotted into the black spot.

A cave.

Sam followed, and so did I. We descended far into the cave, placing torches as we went, and met a dead end.

"Why are we in here?" I asked Trevor.

"At the rate we're going, the horses are going to collapse." Jax said. "Then it would take even slower to get to Hiemx."

"Good thing you're worried about the horse's welfare." Sam said sarcastically, her voice muffled by her netherrack patterned scarf.

Jax scowled. "Hey, I'm just trying to look at the big picture."

"Why? Apparently you guys don't even have a deadline. Aren't deadlines, like, a vital thing for quests to save the world?" Sam pointed out.

"I suppose, yes." Jax said absently. "Maybe that's just something for us to find out."

"Yeah, maybe, Zack." Sam said.

"Jax! JAAAAAAX! It is JAX! Say it with me—J-aaaa-x!" Jax shouted, jumping to his feet.

Sam snorted. "J-aaaa-x." she said unenthusiastically.

Me and Trevor chuckled at their bickering.

"You know she's doing that to annoy you, right?" I told Jax, to which he just grunted and turned to his horse.

Sam sighed and plopped onto the cold stone floor. "Trevor?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't happen to bring the tent with you, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

Jax let out a bark of laughter. "The tent? How would you ha-a-a-a—" Jax stammered to a stop as Trevor pulled out a handkerchief and tossed it on the ground.

Immediately the handkerchief unfolded outwards, expanding and inflating until there was the full-size tent that Sam had been staying in when she'd gone to the archery contest.

"What, you really thought that everywhere I went that I would set up the tent, then put all of my stuff in it? That's just not smart." Sam said.

Jax peeked inside the tent. Sure enough, the inside of the tent hadn't changed at all, except that it was a lot colder.

"You had a portable tent this whole time?" Jax said incredulously.

Sam shrugged. "Well, yeah."

Jax's eye twitched. "You realize that we could have stayed in there, right?"

"Wait. Does that work?" Sam asked. "Huh. Maybe I should test that soon."

At Jax's scrutinizing look, Sam flapped her hand at him. "Ah, alright, fine. But even if we had gone in there, what about the horses? Would you be able to fit three horses in a single tent?"

Jax sighed in annoyance. "Fine. Let's just...why do you even have that tent in the first place?"

"Just wanted to be sure." Sam smiled and said to Trevor, "alright, you can fold up the tent."

Trevor grinned and whistled.

Immediately, the tent folded inwards until it was just a neat little square again.

"What keeps that thing from expanding?" I asked, intrigued.

Trevor shrugged. "I dunno. We bought it from this guy like six years ago."

"Wait, but doesn't that mean that the Pocket enchantment will wear off soon?" Trevor asked Sam, who shrugged.

"In four years, probably. That's why I ask you to carry it around. So that if it suddenly expands in your pocket, you'll be the one that's flattened and not me." Sam joked.

For once, Trevor's expression was sullen. There are some things you just don't joke about.

"Okay, are we ready to go now?" Jax asked.

"What?" I asked. "But we've only been here for like five minutes!"

"Still, we need to get to Hiemx fast." Jax argued. "Like Sam said, we don't know when we're supposed to finish this quest, so it'd be nice if we finished it quick as possible."

What were we going to Hiemx for, you ask? Well, Sam said that she knew a map maker in Hiemx, and that maybe he would be able to help with the location of 'the center of the world'.

I sighed and got ready to struggle through the harsh blizzard outside again. "Great."

?-?-?

I squinted through the blizzard. "Is that a light?" I muttered.

Or, rather, tried to mutter. The whistling of the wind was loud enough to drown out any word I said, so basically I was just mouthing the words.

_We're_ _here_, I thought gratefully.

Sure enough, as we got closer, the outline of multiple buildings became visible, and lanterns swung in the wind frantically, and I could see multiple lanterns with their lights extinguished.

I felt someone tapping my back, and turned.

It was Trevor. We were all wearing thick jackets with fur hoods, and the brown fur surrounding his face made him look like a rabbit. He pointed, and my eyes followed the direction in which he was pointing, the stables.

There was snow blocking the way, and we had to spend a few painful moments clearing away the snow so that our horses could get in.

After we led the horses into the stables, Sam led us over to a hotel nearby.

We walked in, and Jax bought us two rooms—one for Sam and Trevor, and one for me and Jax. But for the moment we all decided to gather in one room and talk.

"So what's our plan?" Jax said, leaning forwards.

Sam snorted. "You ask like we're going to war. What is there to say? We ask for a map to the center of the world, then we go there, give Klith a good whupping, and then come back in time for supper."

"You make it sound so much simpler than it probably is." Jax said, an annoyed look on his face. "We need to find out what Klith is planning in order to stop him."

"How? It's not like we can ask him." I pointed out.

"We'll find out." Jax said, a blank look spreading on his face. "But for now, rest."

"Because after we get a map, we're out of here."

?-?-?

_Pain._

_Blood._

_A never ending firestorm._

_A bloodied fishing rod._

_An enormous mushroom cloud, piercing the clouds and a wave of death washes over the world._

_Red, serpentine eyes._

_Extinction._

_Wake._

_Wake._

_WAKE!_

I jolted awake with a start, my heart racing as if I'd just run a marathon. I stumbled to get out of bed, and got caught in the blankets. I tripped and face planted.

Gasping, I got to my knees and stared into the trash can beside my bed. I felt like throwing up.

What had made me so terrified that my heart had gone racing?

I struggled to remember, but nothing.

Only one word resurfaced in my mind.

"Extinction." I gasped as I got to my feet, drenched in sweat.

"What?" Jax said as he walked in with a cup.

"Nothing. What's in the cup?" I asked.

"Coffee."

"Gross. Is there anything else to drink?"

"Did you want me to get you some apple juice?" Jax's voice was dry.

"No! I'm not ten."

"Ok, Toni. Well, I was about to wake you up, but clearly I don't need to." he noticed my face. "Uh, you okay? You're pale."

"Am I?" I said calmly.

"Well, yeah. You're—"

"Where's Sam and Trevor?" I interrupted.

"They're in the lunchroom eating breakfast." Jax eyed me, looking concerned. "You should wash up. You look horrible."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. "Okay, see you there."

"Bye." Jax hesitated, but walked out.

Something hit me then. "Wait, but where's the—"

Click.

I blinked.

"...god dammit."

After washing up, I wandered throughout the halls until I found my way to the lunchroom.

After piling sausages, scrambled eggs, and toast onto a styrofoam plate, I walked over to Sam, who was snickering at something Trevor had said.

Sam blinked upon seeing me. "Dear God, you look like crap."

"So I'm told." I said, setting my plate down and getting to work on one of the sausages.

"So where's this map place you say your friend owns?" Jax asked.

"Oh, right downtown somewhere. Don't worry!" Sam added upon seeing Jax's less than thrilled expression. "I remember perfectly where it is! Assuming..."

"Assuming what?" Jax asked.

Sam frowned. "...assuming it hasn't been closed down and replaced by a shopping mall."

Jax sighed. "Well, that's just great."

"Don't worry, Josh! I'm sure it's still open!"

"My name is Jax, Sam!" Jax shouted, nearly overturning the table. "JAX! How in the name of Notch do you forget that?"

"Short term memory loss."

"You do not have short term memory loss!"

Me and Trevor just kept eating, ignoring Sam and Jax's bickering. After eating, we headed out.

Despite the huge blizzard last night, it was actually pretty pleasant outside. The ground sparkled with fresh snow, and everything was covered in a fresh sheet of snow. Off in the distance, kids were sledding and making snowmen and doing all the things you typically do when it snows.

I turned towards Jax and Sam to see what they were doing.

"Screw your short term memory loss! It's not even true!"

"Are you discriminating against people with short term memory loss?"

"What!? That's not even what I'm implying here!"

Okay, so still arguing.

I rolled my eyes and went back to watching people shovel snow.

The place really was beautiful, though. I marveled at the beautiful scenery.

And then I walked into a brick wall.

"We're here!" Sam proclaimed.

"Not a moment too soon," Jax deadpanned as I stumbled backwards, slightly disoriented.

In front of us was a lone brick building with a large rusty metal sign on the front that said 'Rafi's Map Store'.

We pushed the dirty glass doors open and stepped in. The tiled floor was pretty dirty, and snoring with a paper covering his face behind an ancient-looking counter was a man who looked like he was in his twenty's.

Sam knocked meaningfully on the door, making the man wake with a start.

The man rubbed his eyes, and jumped upon seeing Sam. "Hey! Sam!"

"Rafi!" said Sam in response. "It's been so long!"

Rafi got up from behind the counter and gladly shook her hand.

"I see Trevor, too. Hi, Trevor!" Trevor smiled a little and waved.

"But who are those two behind you? Could it be...did you actually make friends?" Rafi asked.

"Well, not friends, more...acquaintances." Sam clarified. She turned to us. "Guys, this is Rafi. Rafi, this is Toni and Jerry."

"My name is NOT—"

"Jerry's a little touchy."

"I SWEAR—"

"Sorry." I shrugged at Rafi, who just smiled as if this type of thing happened all the time. "So, do you have any maps that fit the description of 'the center of the world?'"

"Literal or metaphorical?"

"That's...a good question, actually." I admitted.

Oh, why couldn't Notch just have given us a map and specific directions on how to save the world?

"Well, I think I have two maps that fit your description. Be right back. Uh, literally." Rafi quickly retreated through a door in the back.

As soon as Rafi left, Trevor dropped his smile and turned to Jax and Sam.

"With all due respect," Trevor scowled. "you two are acting like children."

"'With all due respect?'" Sam complained. "That wasn't respectful at all!"

"Maybe, but I have to address the elephant in the room, which is that you two are squabbling like children!" Trevor said exasperatedly. "Sam! Stop teasing Jax! Jax! Stop taking the bait! For the love of Notch, a twelve year old is behaving better than you two!"

"Uh...thanks?" I said uncertainly.

Rafi burst through the back door only to find Trevor shouting down the protests of Sam and Jax.

"Uh, is this a bad time?" Rafi asked.

Once again, it's up to me to be the responsible one. Besides Trevor, but he's busy yelling. "No, it's fine."

He puts the two maps on the counter, and I looked at them both.

"One of the locations is actually pretty close," Rafi said, tapping one of the maps.

"Really?" Jax stopped arguing and took the map in his hands. "Huh. That was...easy."

"It sure was," Sam said, grateful to break up the argument. "Let's go there, stab Klith multiple times, save the world, and be back in time for supper! That steakhouse is still open, right Rafi?"

"Steakhouse?" I asked, interest piqued.

"Wait." Jax raises his hand in a hold the phone gesture. "We've had it easy for too long."

Sam scoffed. "Oh, really? What are we, protagonists in a book? This is real life. So maybe that place isn't 'the center of the world'. Then, we go to the other place, and do the same thing we agreed to do at the metaphorical center of the world!"

"Stab him?" I said dryly.

"Stab him." Sam said firmly, like she was making a promise.

"Okay." Jax said skeptically. "Fine. But we're taking the other map, just in case."

"No, no, no." Rafi shook his head. "This map is written on very fragile paper. If it burns, is shredded, crumpled up, or wet, it will be useless. I will keep it."

"I don't think—" Jax started, but Sam cut in. "Yeah, we'll take the one." Sam smiled brightly at Rafi. "Have a nice daaay!" Sam then strolled out of the shop.

We all blinked at each other, slightly surprised. Nonetheless, we followed Sam out of the store, all of us waving to him except Jax, who seemed to be muttering.

As soon as we were out of the store, Jax said, "I don't like that guy."

Sam frowned at Jax. "Oh, so you can detect evil presences lurking around too now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jax angrily started.

"Would you two shut it?" I said defeatedly, surprising both Sam and Jax. "I realize that you two don't get along, but could you just...not fight for at least five minutes? Let's just plan for going in."

Sam and Jax looked at each other.

Sam shrugged. "Eh. Works for me."

"I guess I'm being a little immature." Jax crosses his arms. "Fine. But I have my limit, Sam. Now, we better come up with a good game plan, and fast."

We got up to our room to discuss.

We did not have a good game plan.

Sam suggested going in guns blazing, (or, well, bows blazing, I guess) and Jax suggested going in sneakily.

I had voted to sneak in, and Trevor was going to be the tiebreaker.

"Come on, Trevor. I have like a dozen explosive arrows in my quiver. We don't even have to go in. I can just launch a bunch of them in and boosh!" Sam made a little sound and spread her arms, imitating an explosion.

"I dunno." Trevor said. "Both of them are nice ideas, but I feel like just bursting in and shooting will get us killed. I'd like to sneak in."

"Democracy rules, Shaft." Jax was triumphant. "We're sneaking in."

"Alright, alright. You don't have to rub it in my face." Sam grumbled. "You guys are no fun."

"But tomorrow. Right?" Trevor said, looking at Jax. "No need to rush, right?"

"If you say so." Jax frowned.

We all went to our separate rooms, and I sat down in the bed, lying down with a sigh.

Jax turned the lights of as he laid in his bed, throwing the covers over himself. You'd think that having a long and possibly life threatening venture the next day would make you a little anxious, but not for Jax. He was out like a light, snoring like a broken chainsaw

I wasn't sleepy.

I tossed and turned, trying the bed at all angles, even upside down. But I just couldn't go to sleep.

I let out a loud, throaty groan, and checked the time, and did a double take.

Three A.M.

I sighed and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, I fell into a deep, uneasy sleep.

?-?-?

The restless pigman tossed the bottle of dragon's breath to Klith, who smiled. "Well? Is this what you wanted?"

"Hmm. Yes. You have made me quite pleased." Klith said, inspecting the swirling gas-liquid hybrid inside.

"Well, I'm not pleased!" The pigman shouted. "You said we'd be equals, that I'd have at least a tenth of the power! I wasn't greedy—I didn't ask for everything, or your entire treasury, like other people! I just asked for a tenth! And you treat me like your stupid servant!"

"I understand that you are not happy. But this is necessary. You must be patient." Klith said, lowering the jar and glaring at him.

The pigman didn't take the hint, and continued, "Patient my foot! You can go hang yourself from a cliff over a lake of guardians if you expect me to get something for you again! And you promised me riches!"

Klith set down the jar, his fingers twitching. "...you are crossing the line."

Had the pigman been any smarter, they probably would have stopped talking. "What are you going to do, then huh? Kill me?"

"..."

The pigman took this as a chance to go on. "What, going back on your deal? I'm done, I'm sick, I don't want...wait, what are you doi—"

Klith stood, his eyes alight with cold anger, outstretched his hand, and the pigman was pulled towards him.

Klith lifted the pigman up, oblivious to his screams, and snapped the monster's spine over his knee.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Klith said, dropping the pigman to the floor as their body started to dissolve.

Fisherman snorted. "See? That's why you use fear instead of being nice. Then they think they can walk all over you. LHM and RHM, they're just naturally loyal, but others—"

"I don't need leadership advice from you, Fisherman." This time, a Fisherman took the hint. Klith sighed. "Keep watch over the girl. Do not engage. If they all die from this next challenge, it doesn't matter."

"And if she lives?" Fisherman asked.

"Add four more people to your kill count."

"Heh. Now we're talking." Fisherman smacked his palm with his fishing rod like a gangster with a baseball bat.

"And you." Klith pointed to a pigman guarding the doors, who squeaked involuntarily.

"You've just been promoted. Tell the janitors to clean this up and get me the remaining ingredients of this list," Klith took the list from the pigmans dust and handed it to the guard. "unless you want to get snapped in half like Mr. Impatient over here."

"S-sir yes sir!" the pigman quickly rushed off, relieved.

"That's better." Fisherman smirked.

Klith's eyes darkened. "Don't push it, Fisherman."

?-?-?

I woke up with a gasp.

This time, I wasn't as screwed up as the last time I'd woken up, but I was still kind of a wreck.

"The princess wakes," Sam, who was standing over my bed, quipped.

"What time is it?" I rasped.

"Well, Jax woke up at like eight and has been preparing for the last few hours, and Trevor only just woke up as well, so it's around 11:50." Sam told me. "Jax said we have to hurry, but I don't see the trouble. I mean, we still have like nine hours till night. It's not like we're getting chased, right?" Sam paused. "Actually, we are still getting chased, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." I said absentmindedly.

I was somewhere else in my mind as Sam went on about Jax. What was my dream? Could it have been real? I got the gist of it, sure. This...Fisherman was out there somewhere, watching me from a distance. What kind of name was Fisherman, anyways?

And Klith. Klith seemed to be...collecting things? But why?

I recalled my dream _waaaay_ back in Chapter 10, where some random scientist named Tres got robbed and stabbed by Klith. He'd taken some sort of blue acid, and now dragon's breath? If I was remembering correctly, Dragon's Breath was used for lingering potions. But then why...

"Hey!"

I resurfaced with a start. "Yeah?"

"I've been saying your name for three minutes. You spaced out." Sam said. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." I lied, albeit horribly.

To escape Sam's suspicious gaze, I quickly changed the subject. "Well, are we going out or what?"

"Yeesh. Everyone seems to be in a rush. Okay, I'm ready." Sam said. "Just switched to a different bow and stocked up on some arrows."

I glanced over at her bow, and sure enough, it was made out of some sort of black metal with purple streaks.

"Endsteel. Multiply's the arrows you shoot in exchange for less damage." Sam grinned. "I'm fine with that, though."

Jax burst into the room wearing iron armor and looked at us.

"Let's go."

We got on our horses and rode off towards the large red X on the map. Eventually, the snow and ice faded away until we were riding through the plains, animals of all kinds dotting the area around us.

It was just your regular, long, slightly boring horse riding trip, until we finally got to the X.

"Wow." Sam said.

Sure enough, in front of us was an enormous cave, the opening so huge that multiple ghosts could probably fit through without even touching the edges.

"This feels wrong," Jax muttered.

"Well, wouldn't that mean we're in the right spot?" I reasoned. "I mean, obviously if the most evil person to ever exist uses this place as his lair, it would feel a little off."

"I suppose," Jax said reluctantly.

We all looked at each other, pretty nervous.

"Uh," Trevor piped up. "I think I'm going to stay up here. You know, as a guard."

Sam gave him a 'seriously?' look, but Trevor just gulped.

Sam sighed, and we rode our horses down into the cave.

Sam seemed to not be worried, whistling as we all descended deeper and deeper, placing torches as we went along.

"Don't you feel nervous?" I asked Sam. "I mean, we're probably about to meet the Klith. You know, the guy who massacred like thousands of people and is literally an equal in terms of power to Notch?"

"Oh, I'm terrified." Sam told me. "But usually I turn feelings like fear, or anger, or sadness into productivity so I don't feel as horrible."

"That's reasonable." I said. "But even then, I don't get how you're so cheerful all the time."

"Oh, it's simple. I just think that moping around and shouting all the time is a waste of time and kind of counterproductive, so I channel all my energy into being cheerful instead. Even when I'm mad." Sam explained.

"Try telling Jax that," I muttered, making Sam chuckle.

"I can hear you!" Jax shouted, which made us crack up more.

Suddenly, a growling sound filled the darkness.

The laughter instantaneously died out.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

While we were talking, we'd reached the bottom of the cave, and it seemed to be artificial. The floor was entirely comprised of mossy stone brick, and we couldn't see five blocks ahead, despite all of our torches.

Suddenly there was an enormous roar, and a bright orange light filled all of my senses. The orange light spread across the room, spraying the walls and igniting huge columns, which burst into flames.

The orange light was clearly fire. But where was it coming from?

We got our answer a few seconds later as the room was completely lit up by the flames surrounding us.

An enormous dragon, one with red scales that were all the size of shields, was standing in the center of what looked like an enormous colosseum that we were in as well.

The dragon glared at us with red, serpentine eyes.

"Oh." I said in a small voice. "That's what it was."

"Alright," Jax whispered. "We scatter on three. One..."

Not waiting for us, the dragon charged, its maw opening to swallow us all.

And as it closed in, a terrifying thought filled my mind.

_This is not Klith's base._

* * *

**So it was a dragon! Kind of cliche, but whatever, I do what I want.**

**While writing this Jax got autocorrected to Jack. Even the autocorrect is getting in on the teasing.**

**And holy heck thank you for being patient with me, who is way past procrastinating now. Also, fifteen followers! Yay!**

**But hey, at least I didn't take like two months again. *shudders* Uh. Yeah, that was a dark time for my fanfic.**

**Anyways, have a great day, and wash your hands!**

_**Krios**_


	16. Fighting Fire With Fire Never Works

**If you'd told me that I would have updated my fanfic in a week yesterday, I would have laughed at you. But here we are!**

**Hey everybody, it's Krios here, back at ya with another FanFiction Chapter!**

**Thanks for all the support, it's things like **

**I'd also really appreciate it if you could like, subscribe, and click the bell for notifications.**

**Wait, wrong platform.**

**I'd also really appreciate it if you could favorite, follow, and most importantly, review, because your reviews are the things that keep me going.**

**Also! Reviews.**

**rot013the username issue: Ohh. That would make more sense, actually. Also...I...don't have a good reason for that question. Her powers seem to be based off raw, powerful emotions. That time in Chapter 3, she was pretty pissed off and humiliated, and that drove her to blow up everything. I don't know if this counts, but in Chapter 1, she was filled with the drive to protect her sister, and then proceeded to beat the literal life out of the rock golem.**

**Basically, I haven't come up with an actual good reason, but her powers only activate in cases of pure emotion. Probably an unsatisfactory answer, but that's my take on it.**

**Oh, and not to be the spoiler, but Toni goes absolutely nuts in this chapter. You'll see.**

**Some Random Kid: Nah. It's actually more based off the dragon from RLCraft, actually. I just tweaked a few details.**

**Right, now that we're done with that, have fun with this mediocre chapter that didn't take that long!**

_**Krios**_

* * *

Fighting Fire With Fire Never Works

The dragon looked us in the eyes, growling softly. In fact, it could have almost passed as the largest car in the world what with it growling like a car engine.

I need you to understand how big this thing was. This thing, it's eyes were the size of cars. It's tail was twice the size and width of a school bus. And it's chest?

If you've ever seen a picture of one of those enormous dump trucks where the tires are larger than the actual people, this thing's stomach was probably slightly smaller. And when I say slightly I mean it.

"Alright." Jax whispered. "We scatter on the count of three. One..."

Without warning, the dragon charged, its wings flapping and its enormous jaw opening so wide it could have swallowed an entire ghast whole.

"THREE!" Jax screamed, and we all ran off in different directions.

I'd like to say that at first I was extremely brave, ran up to the dragon, and distracted it in order to let Jax and Sam pummel it with obsidian spikes and explosive arrows.

But I didn't. I'm not proud of it, but I ran. And I ran like I was thirty minutes late to class, which means a lot.

I hadn't noticed at first, due to the, you know, enormous dragon, but there were dunes of sand scattered everywhere. It looked like it used to be an arena.

The dragon slid to a halt, watching all of us scatter. Eventually, it made a decision and charged after Jax.

I stopped and watched in sick fascination as the enormous dragon started to catch up to Jax, who was running as hard as he could.

"PILLAR!" screamed Jax.

Just as the dragon was about to snap him up, the stone bricks underneath his feet split, and an obsidian pillar not dissimilar to a pillar from The End exploded out from the ground, lifting Jax into the air.

The dragon slammed face first into the pillar, making it tilt. I saw Jax lose balance and start to slide towards the edge of the pillar.

The dragon opened its mouth, and I saw its throat start to glow bright orange.

Before the dragon could vaporize Jax, multiple arrows hit the dragon's back and exploded.

The dragon turned and sprayed flames at the same time, causing Sam, who had fired the arrows, to flee in order to escape the flames.

The dragon turned back to the pillar, held up its claws, and slammed them into the pillar, making it tilt even more.

Jax suddenly dropped down, and my heart stopped for a moment before Jax pulled out a water bucket in midair and spilled it onto the ground just as he hit the ground.

Sam shot even more arrows, which all blew up on the dragon's chest, forcing it back.

It was struggling, that was clear, but soon it would get through the explosions and crush Sam. It wasn't being hurt—just pushed back. What with it's extremely armored scales, not even a diamond pickaxe would do anything.

The dragon got a bit too close, and lashed out with it's claws. Sam jumped back, and the claws raked across the stone floor, creating a long crack in the spot that Sam had just been in.

Sam turned, and as she ran, fumbled in her inventory. As the dragon opened its mouth to either eat Sam or roast her, Sam pulled out an enderpearl and hurled it.

Just as the dragon blasted a stream of fire at Sam, the enderpearl hit one of the pillars, and Sam teleported away.

"Toni!" Jax shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

I shouted back, "OKAY!" and started sprinting towards the exit.

But as I ran, the dragon turned towards me, smoke spiraling out of its nostrils.

"Oh..." I gulped.

The dragon let out an earth shaking roar and charged towards me.

?-?-?

Trevor sighed as he stared at the entrance of the cave.

_Should I have gone in there with them?_ Trevor thought.

Sure, he was guilty about leaving them to wait out here. But...it was Klith they were talking about. What could he possibly do?

I mean, it wasn't like he could actually be useful to those guys, right? Jax had control over obsidian. Sam was good with bows. Toni...

...well, he didn't know what Toni could do yet, but at least she went in! And she was two years younger than him!

Trevor straightened and gripped the reins of his horse. He was Sam's assistant! He could do this!

All of a sudden, a loud, echoing roar emanated from the cave, and Trevor's newfound courage suddenly left him.

"Maybe I should just stay here..."

?-?-?

Gym was never my strong point, but when a dragon is running at you full speed roaring like a cross between a lion and a T-Rex, you realize that you can run way more faster than you usually could.

That's what happened. I was running like an ocelot who'd drunken an entire bottle of Speed Six Hundred.

But even then, the dragon was starting to catch up, and the dragon's talons were now only barely missing me. One even nicked my jacket, tearing through it like...claws through...a jacket.

It's hard making metaphors while you're being chased by a dragon, alright!?

I glanced behind me for a millisecond, only to see the dragon's neck starting to glow with flames again, and despite the explosive arrows pelting the dragon's back, it kept it's attention on me for some bizarre reason.

_Nonononononono!_

Then, I tried something so stupid, so incredibly dangerous, you'll wonder if I've lost my mind.

I turned and ran back at the dragon.

I put on a burst of speed, and started to run even faster than I had been before.

And ran under the dragon's belly.

Yes, it was stupid. Yes, I probably could have died. But did I stop and think about it? Well, you try thinking up a strategic retreat while a dragon's chasing you and it's about to roast you like a pork chop and there are explosions going off and your friends are screaming at you.

Thinking back on it, the dragon probably could have just sat down on me and crushed me, but it didn't. Probably because it was so surprised.

The flames barely missed me, and I successfully ran out from underneath the dragon without dying.

The thing about being big is that it takes a little while to turn around, and while it was doing that, I was doing the thing I did best: running.

I ran over to Sam, who was still firing arrows that multiplied in mid air to blast the dragon.

"I'm almost out of explosive arrows," Sam shouted. "We're going to have to do something soon!"

I was about to shout that we had been doing something this whole time (which was running) when the dragon blasted flames at us.

Jax came out of nowhere and raised his hands like the conductor of an orchestra, and a large wall of obsidian burst out of the ground, blocking the flames.

Jax then threw his hands down, and the wall shattered into pieces that all flew at the dragon, hitting and even sometimes stabbing it in multiple places.

But it wasn't enough. The dragon merely shook it off and attacked.

Sweat was running down Jax's forehead, but still he summoned obsidian spikes from the ground that jabbed and poked the dragon, but the dragon merely smashed through them.

As it got closer and closer, what did I do?

Why, I heroically cowered before the night of the dragon, of course! What else?

But as I got a closer glance at my friends, I saw that they were tiring.

Jax was barely keeping the attacks up. Sam was running out of arrows, and her arms were shaking.

And as I watched in abject horror, something in me broke.

Just like in the ravine, I went cold.

I had to do something.

I closed my eyes, searching for a solution. And as I opened them again, the dragon roared, revealing a red, serpentine tongue and an enormous mouth.

I had an idea.

"Make it open it's mouth again." I said.

"What?" Jax asked.

"Do it!" I shouted.

Jax slowly blinked, but looked at Sam. Even though they didn't get along that well, in certain situations, they could practically read each other's minds.

They both nodded at each other.

With renewed energy, they started to attack it more fiercely. And as they fought, I pulled out an iron sword, my energy barely contained.

Eventually, the dragon opened it's mouth, and it's throat started to glow again.

It was my time.

I roared and kicked off the ground so hard that I smashed a crater into the ground, jumping into the air at an impossible height.

And I flew into the air, flying, sailing, almost at eye level with the dragon.

Have you ever smashed your elbow on a hard surface and had your arm tingling like someone electrocuted your arm? Well, that's what I felt. Countless surges of energy running through my arm.

I bellowed, and threw the iron sword.

The iron sword was like a toothpick compared to the dragon, but with the sword, all of my pent-up energy exploded as well. The frustration of not being able to contribute to the group, the inconvenience of my powers that went on and off, on and off, all of it went into that throw.

And the result was a super-charged iron sword that was crackling with the power of a thousand bolts of lightning and thunder.

Spinning blade over blade, the sword sailed deep into the back of the dragon's throat.

And as I fell back to earth, the dragon's throat lit up in a strangely beautiful display of white lightning and orange fire.

I took all of this in in a solid three seconds, and smashed into the ground so hard that I made the crater I'd made even deeper.

Jax and Sam quickly rushed into the crater, Sam's expression one of awe and surprise, and Jax's one of shock.

"I'm..." I coughed violently. "fine..."

Despite what was probably a five-mile length fall, it was true. I was fine—just winded.

There was a weak roar, and I looked back up.

_Oh, right. The big scary dragon. Huh. _

Now, I don't know what it feels like to have a needle that's literally infused with a thousand bolts of electricity shoved down your throat, but I can only assume that it's not a nice experience.

The dragon swayed, tilted over, and hit the ground so hard that the entire cave trembled, and entire clouds of dust rained down from the ceiling.

"...is it dead?" Sam asked.

"Wouldn't it have evaporated by now if it were dead?" I asked.

"Well, yes. That is true." Jax said.

"Great." Sam said. "Let's get out of here."

"Sam, where's the map?" Jax asked.

Sam pulled it out, and paled.

"What?" Jax asked.

Sam couldn't respond. She just stared at the map.

Me and Jax looked over her shoulder, and I was the first one to see it.

On the map, where it said "the center of the world" was peeling off like tape.

Sam pulled it off, and under it were the words "Crimdragon's Den".

Sam turned to us and held up the 'tape' that said "the center of the world" on it.

"...what?" I asked. "Why—"

Jax took the tape in his hands. "This is invisible tape. What ever you cover it with, becomes invisible. But...why...?"

"Jax, you're an idiot." Sam said in a hollow voice.

"What!? What are you—"

"We've been lied to." Sam said. "Rafi lied to us."

?-?-?

Sam was pretty shaken up, and when we met back up with Trevor, we told him what happened. Well, me and Jax told him. Sam was just staring at the ground, her face somber.

And of course, Jax being completely tone deaf, started going on about Rafi.

"I knew there was something about him." Jax said for what seemed like the millionth time. "Of course, he was a little suspicious from the start. He spent a little too much time in the back. He probably looked for the most dangerous map in his store and then gave it to us. We played right into his hands. I bet the other map—"

Sharply, I elbowed him in the chest.

"Ow! Toni, what—"

"Don't be an idiot." I told him.

"Oh, so now you're buddies with Rafi as well?" Jax argued. "Just look at the facts, Ton—"

I lowered my voice and cut him off. "I do agree with you, Jax. But it's kinda insensitive if you just keep going on about how you always knew that Rafi was the bad guy when you've met him for literally five minutes."

"Insensitive? What do you mean, insensitive?" Jax asked.

"Sam has been friends with Rafi for a long time, from what I've heard." I quietly said. "Imagine how she would feel."

"Injustice? Angry?" Jax suggested.

"Well, yes, but she would also be conflicted. Imagine if someone you knew for a long time suddenly betrayed you. How would you feel?" I asked him.

"Uh, I'd be mad about it and beat them up."

I stared at Jax, sighed, and walked away.

"What did I say?" Jax asked Trevor, who just ignored him.

Since our horses had ran away, the journey back to Hiemx took twice as long, and by the time we got back, the sun was starting to set.

Slowly, the white, snow filled scenery of Hiemx came back into view, and Sam suddenly sped up, making all of us sprint in order to keep up.

"Hey! Where—go?" I wheezed, because all this walking had taken a toll on my lungs.

Sam ignored me and ran off.

When we caught up, we found Sam furiously jabbing the lock on the glass doors of Rafi's Map Shop.

The lock snapped, and blatantly ignoring the closed sign, walked in. We followed, me and Trevor exchanging uneasy glances.

Sam walked around the counter and walked to the door leading to the back. She tried the doorknob, but it was locked.

"Rafi!" Sam yelled. "_Rafi!_"

"I mean, the store's closed and the lights are off." I reasoned. "So wouldn't he be at his house instead of his shop?"

"He sleeps here." Sam snapped at me, and slammed her palms on the door. "_RAFI!_ Oh, screw it." Sam took a few steps back, and ran full speed at the door.

She kicked the door as hard as she could, and there was a snapping sound. Sam rammed her shoulder against the door, and the door swung open with a loud crack.

Behind the door were multiple shelves filled with stacks and stacks of maps.

Sam charged through the shelves, and we followed.

Once Sam got to the end of the shelves, she turned left and started climbing the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a door. Sam, without waiting, burst through the door.

She turned and started to say, "What—"

You'd think that we'd have had enough action for a single day, but apparently not.

Rafi appeared out of nowhere with a chair held over his head, and smashed it over Sam's.

Sam crumpled, and I pulled out my diamond sword, but before I could swing, Rafi picked up one of the chair legs and threw it at me.

The chair leg hit me in the chest, knocking me off balance. I frantically windmilled my arms to stay upright, which is not a good idea with a diamond sword in your hand.

I nearly sliced Jax's face, but despite me windmilling my arms, I tipped backwards and crashed into the two behind me, and we all went down like bowling pins.

I was lucky—because the stairs were pretty narrow, I fell straight off the side of the stairs and onto the ground three blocks below instead of rolling down.

Trevor and Jax weren't so lucky. Trevor smashed into one of the shelves, causing all of the maps and heavy books to thump down onto Trevor, including the shelf itself. Jax was lucky enough to dodge the shelves, but instead smacked his head right into the wall.

With Jax stirring feebly on the ground, Trevor buried under a bunch of maps and books, and Sam unconscious, I was the only one that could chase after Rafi.

Quickly stepping over Jax's body, I ran up the stairs and into the room.

I frantically looked around, but he was gone.

Where did he—?

My eyes then rested upon an open window.

Aha.

I ran over to the window. A six block jump, but it couldn't be that hard.

I jumped down, and upon hitting the ground, my knees screamed in protest.

So when I fall a hundred blocks I'm fine but if I fall six blocks I break my legs. Great.

I saw out of the corner of my eye someone running.

"Hey!" I shouted, but Rafi didn't stop.

And here I thought I would be able to rest, I sighed internally.

I started to give chase, running after Rafi.

I chased him all the way down the street, and then he turned into a different street.

This one was full of people, but I didn't care. I needed to stop Rafi.

As I ran, pushing past people and causing shouts of annoyance, I rummaged in my inventory as I ran and pulled out an enderpearl that Jax had given me before we went into the cave.

I cocked my arm, aimed, and threw it at Rafi's back.

As soon as the enderpearl hit Rafi's back, I instantly teleported onto Rafi's back, knocking him down.

I tried to pin him down, but he was more flexible than I thought, squirming and punching me in multiple areas.

He pulled out a dagger and aimed a strike at my face. The blade slashed across my cheek, making me shout in pain.

I grabbed his wrist and dug my fingernail into it, making Rafi yell and open his palm.

I grabbed the dagger away, speared it through the snow and into the dirt, and punched Rafi in the face.

By this time, a large crowd had gathered around us, murmuring and gasping every time one of us hit each other, rolling around like wrestlers in the ring. It must have looked bizarre: a twelve year old girl fighting to get a hold on a thrashing twenty year old man.

I finally managed to get a hold on his neck, and gasping with extortion, pulled out a sword.

The crowd gasped and shouted upon me pulling it out, but I didn't care.

"Why?" I asked, my face glistening with sweat. "Why did you lie, Rafi?"

Rafi thrashed and pulled at my wrist, but nothing happened. Rafi gave up and slumped.

"I...just did what...he...told me to..." Rafi gasped.

"He?" I asked. "As in Klith?"

"No! No—" Rafi choked. "Don't—kill me!"

"I'm not going to—" I started, but Rafi cut me off.

"Not you." Rafi slowly raised a quivering finger. "Him."

I turned, still keeping my hand in his neck in case it was a trick.

There was nothing there.

I turned back to Rafi, and snarled, "Nice try, but—"

Suddenly, Rafi's face was filled with horror, and I turned again.

Before my disbelieving eyes, a bottle of milk suddenly appeared. The stopper was pulled out, and the bottle tipped, all of the milk draining into an invisible force.

And before my eyes, another person appeared.

He looked disturbingly similar to a scarecrow. He was wearing a lopsided plaid shirt, and ripped jeans. He had remorseless, cruel eyes, and had faded yellow hair.

I recognized this person from my dream. He was—

"Fisherman." Rafi choked.

Fisherman smiled cruelly and pulled a fishing rod out of his inventory, and started to smack his palm with the fishing rod like a gangster smacking their hand with a baseball bat.

"So you're the girl that everyone's so worked up about."

* * *

**Okay, wow. I was not intending for this chapter to be so action packed. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.**

**Anyways, Fisherman's back! Boo!**

**So...what will the outcome be? Will Toni win when literally everyone's against her? Will Rafi die? Probably! Where are LHM and RHM? And is Krios going to update in under a week again?**

**Find out in the next chapter of Herobrine Reborn!**

**Until next time, folks! I will see you...next time!**

**WAITWAITWAIT DON'T LEAVE YET**

**IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE THIS FANFIC WAS UPLOADED!**

**WOOOOOOOOOO!**

**No, seriously! Check it! **

**Actually, now that I think about it, it's kind of depressing that I've only managed to upload sixteen chapters in an entire year. Sigh.**

**Oh well. Stay healthy, and don't touch any doorknobs! ;)**

**_Krios_ out!**


	17. Things Start To Get Real Fishy

**Man, I am on a roll! Two chapters in one month? I must be crazy! Hopefully I don't go right back to monthly uploads anytime soon.**

**Also, reviews.**

**r0t013 the username issue: I guess you have reason to be skeptical. And...yeah, I will admit that I pretty much went 'lol idk' and then proceeded to have Toni go super saiyan. But, in my defense, that was written before your review.**

**...although in hindsight, it would have been cooler if she'd used her powers to, say, collapse in the cave ceiling.**

**Guest: Why, thank you! I appreciate the compliment. But, books with girls as the main characters aren't rare!**

**Ranger Wheatley: Thanks for the barrage of reviews! Appreciate the support! I nearly fainted when I saw 'Reviews: 26'!**

**Also, if you have anything against the phrase 'pip pip cheerio', fight me.**

**I'm joking. Please don't leave.**

**Also, I fixed chapter twelve, which probably none of you noticed, but sorry if you got a notification and thought it was a new chapter.**

**...I don't know if that's how follows work, but I'm going with that.**

**Anyways, enjoy this new sub-par chapter I dished out for you guys!**

**On the house!**

**(Also, puns.)**

_**Krios**_

* * *

Things Start To Get Real Fishy

I've never seen someone make a fishing rod look so menacing.

Fisherman grinned. "So. You're her sister. You two look nothing alike. Maybe the brown hair, but apart from that, that's it."

All of a sudden it felt like an anvil had been dropped on my chest. "Cal's alive?"

"Whatever her name is." Fisherman fluttered his hand at me.

I started to get excited.

_Cal's alive! Yay!_

And then I remembered that I was in a life or death situation.

_...I'm...probably going to die anyways. Boo._

"Listen up, kid." Fisherman snapped his fingers. "Right now, LHM and RHM have your friends captive. I have orders to take you in alive, or dead. Preferably alive, according to Klith. So. We can do this the easy way...or the hard way."

Ugh. What a cliche.

I snarled. "You better not hurt them. If you do..."

"What? You going to zap me with your powers? Go ahead!" Fisherman spread his arms and grinned gleefully.

Fuming, I raised my palm.

Nothing happened.

"I didn't think so." Fisherman dropped his arms.

"You know, I've been sooo bored lately. Especially because Klith keeps sending me on these stupid errands." Fisherman scowled for the first time, but quickly changed back to a smile. "But now that you're here...boy, oh boy! Now I get to sate my urge to stab people and get revenge on your sister! Great! So I would appreciate it if you'd stay still!"

Fisherman flicked his wrist, sending his hook flying towards me.

I howled, and grabbed the hook. Before Fisherman even knew what was happening, I sent a surge of electricity down the fishing line, blasting Fisherman backwards into the crowd, and they screamed and scattered.

I turned on my heel and started to run back towards the map store.

As I ran, I saw a hook fly past my head and plant itself in a vegetable cart in front of me.

I turned just in time to see Fisherman flick his fishing rod, sending the vegetable cart towards me.

I yelped and backpedaled as tomatoes, lettuce, and other veggies spilled out of the cart that was spiraling towards me.

I quickly dived to the side, just as the cart smashed into the spot I was just in, splintering apart into shards of wood, hay, and stone.

Fisherman grinned gleefully. "The hard way, huh? That's great. I like a challenge."

Jax

I groaned and sluggishly got to my feet, bracing myself against the wall.

_Everything's spinning..._

_...Toni._

Where was Toni? I had to find her. No, I had to find Rafi.

Who was the bigger priority here?

The answer quickly came to me, in the form of an arrow smashing through a window and planting itself in the wall directly in front of my face.

"We're supposed to take him as a hostage, not dead, you dolt!" someone shouted.

I turned as three more arrows, tips dripping with some gray liquid, whistled through the air, homing in on my chest.

There was a flash of iron as I swung my sword off my back and sliced them out of the air.

_Weakness arrows._

I heard someone curse, and another one of the windows shattered as someone jumped through the window with a diamond pickaxe.

The man had on enchanted iron armor, and mahogany colored swirls were emanating off of his body.

_Crap. Strength Potion._

The man sneered at me. "Listen here, boy. You surrender and I won't snap you in half."

I held up my sword and pointed at him.

"Alright then." the man charged, bearing down on me like a rhino, and I quickly charged forward.

The man bellowed and brought his pickaxe flying towards me, and I quickly dashed to the side.

The pickaxe smashed into the wooden floor with a crash, and I hefted my sword and smashed it into the side of his chest, making him grunt in pain and tumble backwards into a shelf, which quickly collapsed under the man's weight.

I backed up, but ran into a shelf.

_There's not enough room here. The shelves are too close together._

I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye a hand coming out of a pile of maps, books, and wood.

Trevor burst out of the pile, groaning.

He wasn't the only one who got up, though. The man quickly got back on his feet, wrenched out the pickaxe, and glared at me.

"RHM! ARE YOU GOING TO HELP OR NOT?" the man bellowed before charging at me again.

I made to dash to the side, but an arrow flew out of nowhere, slamming into my chest.

Suddenly there was a burning pain where I'd been shot, and I pulled the arrow out, yelling in pain.

There was a swamp green liquid dripping off the arrowhead, and I only had time to think, 'poison' before the man lifted his pickaxe and smashed it into my chest, making my chest explode in pain and sending me flying backwards right through a shelf.

I coughed, gasping for breath as the man menacingly walked towards me.

And then the man was promptly blown forward by an explosion.

The explosion blasted apart most of the shelves that were still standing, and threw the man forwards, and the man smashed through the brick wall in a cascade of dust and bricks.

I glanced up to see Sam, holding a bow with shaky hands.

"Well?" asked Sam. "No thank yous?"

Before I could respond, multiple daggers flew out of nowhere, pinning Sam to the wall.

The door burst open and someone holding daggers and a crossbow, probably RHM, hurled multiple throwing knives my way, and I quickly deflected most of them.

RHM loaded an arrow into his crossbow, and aimed at me.

I yelled, and a column of obsidian erupted out of the ground and speared the crossbow to the roof.

RHM blinked in surprise, and I charged forward with the intention to grind this guy into the ground.

Toni

Fisherman cackled maniacally as he hurled a bunch of barrels, boxes, and even carts at me.

I was having a rough time dodging them all, and the slippery smashed up fruits, vegetables, and an assortment of other foodstuffs on the ground didn't help either.

"Oh, this is awesome!" Fisherman gleefully said. "I don't think I've had this much fun since the mineshaft chase!"

I tried a charge forwards, only to be swept off my feet by a diagonal slash from Fisherman's hook, making me drop my sword.

Before I could get up, the hook snagged my shirt and yanked me towards Fisherman. He punched me in the face, knocking me flat onto the ground.

"Rrr..." I growled. I kicked off the cobblestone ground and launched my fist towards Fisherman's chest, punching him in the stomach.

Fisherman, who was in the process of laughing, instead emitted a sound that was somewhere between a gag and the letter 'h'.

"Damn, that was satisfying!" I said with relish as Fisherman staggered back.

Eyes blazing, Fisherman straightened up to slash at me with his hook.

I quickly dodged, but he wasn't aiming for me. He was aiming for my sword, which laid abandoned on the ground after Fisherman dragged me towards him.

He yanked it back, and I yelped as the diamond sword narrowly missed my nose and landed in Fisherman's hand.

"Hey!" I shouted.

Fisherman glared at me. "No more playtime." he said, throwing the sword far behind him.

And before you could say 'Oh crap, I'm going to die' Fisherman threw down a speed potion and ran at me.

"Oh crap, I'm going to—oof!" I grunted as Fisherman punched me in the face, the chest, and everywhere else in quick succession.

I staggered backwards as Fisherman pulled out an iron sword and ran towards me.

I quickly dashed to the side and stuck out my leg. Fisherman, who was going a little too fast to stop, tripped over my leg and faceplanted on the ground, comically sliding forward on his face as if in a cartoon.

"Ooh." I winced. "That's going to leave some burns."

Fisherman got to his feet. With a snarl, he sent his hook towards the wall behind me.

I turned, but Fisherman yanked himself towards me. That, added with the speed potion, he traveled the length of ten blocks in no time.

I wasn't expecting that, and before I could do anything other than yelp, Fisherman pulled out an iron sword and slammed the flat side of it into my face so hard that I actually did a back flip, cartoon style.

I landed on my back hard as Fisherman zipped past me and dropped into a roll. By the time I cleared my eyes, Fisherman had his sword pointed at my neck.

"Looks like you lost," Fisherman growled. "Now yield, or else."

Before he could knock me out, there was a crackling sound and a voice came out of Fisherman's watch.

I hadn't noticed that he'd been wearing a watch, because, well, I'd been more worried for my welfare, but it was a nice watch. The kind of watch that only rich people wore, because they wanted to flex their richness.

But a voice came out of this watch, and it said, "Hello? Who is on the other end of this radio?"

It was Jax.

Before Fisherman could respond, I kicked him in the bits and quickly scooted away as Fisherman hunched over, groaning.

I ran towards my sword, but before I could Fisherman's hook snagged my ankle. Fisherman yelled and yanked my feet out from underneath me, making me face plant for what was probably the third time.

Cursing, I unhooked it and ran towards my sword, and was promptly pulled backwards, right into Fisherman.

Fisherman lifted me into the air and slammed me into the ground hard. Something snapped, and I wasn't sure if it was the cobblestone or me. Judging from the sudden pain in my chest, it was probably the latter.

I rolled away before Fisherman could bring his sword down, and got to my feet. I backpedaled until I eventually ran into a meat stall behind me. I turned to see a terrified butcher hiding behind the stall.

I glanced at an iron axe on the counter, and grabbed it. "I'm just going to borrow this for a moment." I told him.

He didn't argue.

I turned to see Fisherman's hook flying towards me. With sudden speed, I grabbed it out of the air and pulled it hard.

Fisherman got a taste of his own medicine as he was yanked forward and face planted on the ground.

He started to get to his feet, and ignoring the pain in my chest, I ran forwards and threw my axe.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to throw my only weapon at Fisherman, but it was effective nonetheless.

It slammed into Fisherman's shoulder, making him yell in pain. I got to my feet, and as Fisherman pulled out the axe, I charged forwards and punched Fisherman in the face as hard as I could.

Fisherman's head snapped backwards, and he let out a groan before he collapsed forwards, unconscious.

I just stood there for a moment, adrenaline coursing through my veins until I saw a paper in Fisherman's pocket.

I don't know what made me take it, but I did. I stared at it.

It was...a crafting recipe?

I was snapped back to reality when Fisherman grunted. I recalled what he said earlier:

Right now, LHM and RHM have your friends captive.

I didn't know who those were, but I assumed they probably weren't on our side. I ran over to my sword and grabbed it, then painfully hobbled ran in the direction of the map shop. Assuming my friends were still unconscious, they were in danger.

Jax

The fight wasn't going well.

The good news: there was plenty of space now for me to swing my block-and-a-half long sword. The bad news: there was a bunch of wood, papers, and books on the floor, which made it a little hard to move around without tripping and/or slipping.

I swung my sword toward LHM, only for him to block with his pickaxe and throw a splash potion at my feet, which I dodged rather ungracefully, slipping backwards on the wood and the paper.

LHM charged and swung his pickaxe down with deadly force, and I quickly dashed to the side and slammed my sword into his ribs, and before he could even yell, I swung my sword into his face, smashing him backwards.

Sam, who was still pinned to the wall, watched helplessly as RHM cackled evilly, hurling knives that only barely missed Trevor. He wasn't missing—he was playing with his prey.

Sam, cursing, tried to pull the daggers out of her sleeve, but two daggers had pinned both of her arms to the wall, which meant that she could only move her hands but not her arms. Plus, she was wearing a leather jacket, and leather was pretty hard to tear.

Eventually, LHM got bored and threw a dagger that stabbed Trevor in the foot, making him yell in pain and topple over. LHM then raised a dagger and whacked Trevor across the head with the dagger's hilt, effectively knocking him out.

Sam shouted an obscenity that I won't repeat and with a sound like ripping...leather, she tore one of her sleeves free.

...I'm not good with figurative language.

Sam pulled out the daggers in the other sleeve, freeing herself from the wall. She threw one of the daggers, and while she didn't have as good aim with a bow, she still hit RHM in the chest, making him shout in pain. As he pulled the dagger out, Sam picked up her bow and smashed it into RHM's head, knocking him backwards into the ground.

At the same time, suddenly something smashed into the back of my head, throwing me forwards.

I'd been so preoccupied with Sam and Trevor that I hadn't noticed LHM creep up on me and swing his pickaxe.

I groaned and held my head. It felt like there were blocks of TNT going off in my head, and I rolled onto my back only to see the tip of a diamond pickaxe flying towards me.

Multiple arrows fired out of Sam's bow all at once, slamming into LHM and slightly altering his swing.

The pickaxe slammed into the ground dangerously close to my head. LHM roared in anger and wrenched the pickaxe out of the ground to throw it at Sam. I didn't see it happen, but I heard Sam yell in pain. LHM got back to me and wrapped his big hands around my neck and started to squeeze.

I started to choke, and slapping at LHM's arms didn't do much.

My windpipe was being steadily crushed, and I was starting to lose strength.

Until someone yelled, "TASER!" and someone jabbed the sides of LHM's chest.

It probably wouldn't have done much, but sparks of electricity ran down the person's fingers into LHM, literally tasing him.

LHM's fingers went slack, and he collapsed sideways to reveal, of course, Toni.

"I've always wanted to do that to other people." Toni grinned and winced. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I groaned. "Apart from, you know, being strangled. Oh, and also having a killer headache."

"Yeah, sorry to rush you guys, but we're probably being chased and Fisherman is going to wake up any time now." Toni informed us, and I did a double take.

"Fisherman?"

"Yeah, he's some psychopath with a fishing rod and sent those two after you. Maybe later we can talk?" Toni hurriedly said.

"Toni, Fisherman is—"

Suddenly we heard multiple shouts coming from a little bit away.

"Also, I'm pretty sure everyone in this town has seen me fight Fisherman, so we may or may not be arrested and sent to juvenile." Toni added.

"Great." I winced as I got to my feet. For a moment, everything suddenly went blurry and my head all fuzzy for a moment.

"Let's get out of here." Sam groaned.

"Wait, but the map—!"

"Screw the map!" Sam shouted. "Let's just get out of here! It's too late!"

The shouts and yells were getting closer.

Toni wavered, unsure.

"I SAID LET'S GO!" Sam bellowed, and Toni snapped out of it.

Sam hoisted Trevor onto her back, and all three of us ran out of the map shop.

We were quite the group—one of us with a broken rib, one of us with a headache and a sore throat, and one of us carrying an unconscious person on their back.

And for the second time, we ran out of a town being chased by multiple people who wanted to capture us. It was like deja vu.

And of course, it didn't help that the ground was slippery with slush and snow. And just when I thought our days of slipping and sliding on slippery and/or lumpy ground were over.

It was confirmed that the authorities had come to arrest us, which meant that we were toast if they caught up to us. And they were, fast.

"There!" Toni pointed to the stables, where more than one horse was kept just in case of an emergency.

And boy oh boy, emergency was one way to describe us.

We got to the stables door but it was locked, at least until I cut through the lock with my sword.

But it looked like there was another lock inside, so I just decided to smash through the door entirely, swinging my sword like an axe.

The sword cut through the door easily, and we immediately burst in. I turned and rose my hands, and the doorway was blocked by a wall of obsidian that burst out of the ground.

Everyone got on their respective horses, (except for Trevor, who was still unconscious,) and Sam pulled an arrow out of her quiver and threw it at the back wall.

The arrow exploded, blasting a hole in the wall, and we all charged out of the back of the stables.

By the time they noticed, we were gone.

We could hear their shouts and screams, but they couldn't keep up. After all, they didn't have horses of their own.

As soon as we were sure we got out of Hiemx, we stopped our horses, tied them up to multiple trees, and went into the forest.

After going for at least five minutes, we hunkered down for the night.

Jax started a campfire, and we all sat around it, grateful for the warmth.

We sat there for another five minutes, completely silent, before Jax broke the silence.

"Toni. Why is Fisherman trying to kill us?"

"You're talking like you know him." I frowned.

"Everyone knows him. He's a complete psycho that's killed, like, a lot of people." Jax explained. "There's a huge bounty on his head, and he's managed to kill and murder every person that's ever come up to him. Well, I guess that's an exaggeration. Especially because you somehow survived."

"Oh."

"That's all you have to say to that?"

"Well, what else?" I asked.

"But I'm getting off topic. Toni, did he say anything about why he attacked us?" Jax questioned.

"Well, he said that Klith wanted to capture me. And that Klith was sending him on some...errands? That's what he said, anyways." I shrugged.

"So Klith's working with Fisherman now. That's just super." Jax sighed.

"Oh, and that reminds me. I found this in his pocket." I pulled out the paper.

Jax frowned and took the paper from my hands. "It's a recipe. But for...what? What is all of this? Soulfire. Cobalt Acid. Infernal Powder. And TNT?"

At this, Sam's head shot up. She grabbed the paper out of Jax's hand, nearly ripping it in the process.

"Hey!" Jax glared at Sam, but Sam ignored him per usual.

Sam hadn't talked since we'd set up the campfire, but now she looked horrified.

"Errands. Klith's been sending Fisherman on errands. To collect these, I'm assuming." Sam tapped the paper.

"Well, that's a no brainer, isn't it?" Jax said, but Sam didn't even respond, to which Jax started taking her more seriously. "Wait, do you recognize this recipe?"

"Yes. Yes I do." Sam ruffled her hair. "This is...this is a Hellfire Storm."

Jax's jaw dropped.

"Wait, what am I missing here?" I asked them. "What is a Hellfire Storm?"

Jax looked me dead in the eyes.

"It's the most powerful bomb in the world." Jax said numbly. "Hellstorm for short. So strong of an explosion that it could wipe out the entire world if detonated in the right place."

"The center of the world." Sam said.

The impact of this discovery shocked us all into silence.

Trevor groaned loudly and sat up, holding his head. "Oh, god. I think I have a concussion." He stopped talking at the sight of us. "What, are we at a funeral or something? What's with the faces?"

"Klith's collecting the ingredients for a Hellstorm." Sam told him.

Trevor suddenly gained a look on his face as if he'd just remembered that he had a major test the next day but hadn't studied. "Oh."

We were all silent.

"Well, at least some good news come out of this." Trevor said.

"What!?" Sam shouted. "What good news could you possibly draw from this?"

Trevor pulled out a map, slightly sheepish.

We all stared at it. I caught on first.

"That's not..." I gasped.

"Yeah. It's a map to the center of the world." Trevor said. "I found it while I was buried."

Everyone just stared at him, and we all burst into excitement.

And as everyone high-fived each other, I thought:

_We may have some crappy news. But if we play our cards right..._

_...we still have a chance._

* * *

Fisherman walked amidst the wreckage of maps and wood and stopped at someone's feet.

It was LHM, and he was groaning.

Fisherman reared back and slapped him in the face.

"Get up," Fisherman snapped.

LHM's eyes opened, and he focused on Fisherman. He gained a scared look on his face.

"Sir, I—"

"—lost them." Fisherman finished. "Didn't you?"

LHM opened his mouth to answer.

"It was a rhetorical question." Fisherman snapped. He turned away from LHM, rubbing his forehead. All of a sudden he snapped, stomping and kicking at a single wooden board until it was just splinters on the ground.

"For god's sake. What do I even pay you idiots for?"

Fisherman turned back to LHM, breathing heavily. "We're not finished. Burn this place down and let's go."

LHM pulled out a torch. "What for, sir?"

"Not because I have to. I just want to." Fisherman's thirst for blood had not been quenched, and even though no one would actually die when Fisherman burned it down, it would still be satisfying to watch. Even as a child, he enjoyed just tossing paper into campfires and staring at how it curled up and turned to ashes.

But he was knocked out of his thoughts, quite literally, when LHM shouted a warning too late and a plank of wood broke over his head.

Fisherman dropped to his knees, holding his head.

He felt blood run down his forehead.

Enraged, he turned to see a terrified Rafi.

Rafi turned to run, but Fisherman pulled out his fishing rod and his sword. He threw the hook which snagged his shirt and yanked him backwards.

Right into Fisherman's sword.

Rafi's eyes widened, and Fisherman pulled out the sword, letting Rafi drop onto his chest.

LHM rose his pickaxe to kill him, but Fisherman held out a hand. "Stop."

LHM halted.

"Give me the torch." Fisherman took the torch out of LHM's hands.

He bent over and whispered into terrified Rafi's ear.

"Maybe I will be able to see some blood."

Fisherman straightened, stuffing a map into Rafi's shirt as he did, and held the torch over Rafi's chest.

And he dropped the torch.

Rafi's screams pierced the shaken town of Hiemx.

* * *

**Holy crap, that was harsh.**

**Anyways, there was a lot more action in this part than I intended, but let's be honest. Probably like fifty percent of this fanfic is action, with fifteen percent joking around and thirty five percent actual story telling.**

**(Also the number of commas in this holy heck.)**

**Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully, I will see you in less than a month.**

**_Krios_ out!**


	18. Calliope: Watch Out! He's Armed!

**I'm back, suckaaaaas!**

**I have decided on a goal. An upload goal, to be exact.**

**I will update in around one week, and if I can't, two weeks. If I go any higher I'm screwed.**

**The goal starts from...now!**

**Probably going to break this deal on like my first try, but hey, at least you guys have a sorta vague idea of when I'm going to update!**

**Also, petition for FanFiction to allow people to put periods, exclamation marks, and various other symbols in their chapter names.**

***trombones start playing a festive tune* REVIEWWWWS!**

**r0t013 the username issue: FINALLY! A WORTHY OPPONENT! OUR BATTLE WILL BE LEGENDARY!**

**A Random Kid: Cobalt Acid? I don't think anybody remembered this before I mentioned it, but remember the potion that this guy named Tres made in chapter 10, AKA 'The Archery Tournament Is Not Worth It'? Yeah, it's that. To be honest, that moment felt pretty out of place and kinda un needed, and probably could have been executed better.**

**Also, it worries me that you like yourself some burning humans. That's kinda weird. Not gonna lie.**

**And that marks the end of reviews. Kinda disappointed there weren't more, but hey. I'll take what I can get.**

**On a different note, if you don't remember all of the bounty hunters in Dan's group, that's okay. Occasionally I don't even remember.**

**Anyways, excuse me while I think of different ways to say 'enjoy the chapter' in ways I think are funny but they're really not.**

**Not that one, not that one, not that one...**

**(Also, they need to let you have longer chapter names. Like, come on.)**

**Krios**

* * *

Look Out! He's Armed And Dangerous!

Metal arms are cool. I mean, sure, they're way overdone. They pretty much scream 'bad guy'. (And occasionally 'good guy'.) But that doesn't change the fact that they're pretty cool to look at. They're effective, too. Hypothetically, if you pitted a metal arm against a fishing rod, there is a 99.9 percent for the metal arm to win.

However, there is always the .1 percent.

"Okay. How are we going to play this?" Seu asked. "We don't even know if our...wanted posters...have been put up around town yet."

"True." Dan acknowledged. "But...there is a fifty fifty chance, right?"

Orca scoffed. "More like a twenty five to seventy five chance."

Ender sighed and adjusted her white-and-magenta checkered scarf. "Okay, sunshine. Look. Why don't I go in there, check if there are any posters, and come back."

"Super." Nikai's tone was sarcastic. "It's not like you'd stand out with your white and pink scarf of yours."

"It's magenta, Nik." Ender scowled at Nikai. "So shut your mouth before I shut it for you."

Nikai rolled his eyes. "First, typical of you to know the difference between magenta and pink—"

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Ender shouted.

"—and second, do NOT call me that."

"What, Nik?" Ender put her hands on her hips and pierced him with her gaze. "Got something against—"

"This isn't going anywhere." Dan interrupted with a sigh. "Cal, you go."

"What!?" I yelped. "Why me?"

"Because you're the most inconspicuous out of all of us." Dan reasoned.

"What about Ben?" I protested, gesturing to him. "He's the more normal looking guy!"

We all looked at Ben, who blinked as if to say, 'hey, you're not the one with a broken leg.'

Turns out that Ben actually broke his leg at some point. Whether it was during the fight with the bounty hunters, when Shell literally picked us up, or when we were dropped into the ground like a sack of potatoes, his leg had been broken. Orca attempted to reset his leg, and there was quite a bit of screaming until Orca was done. We weren't sure if it would be safe to have Ben walk yet, so we made him a makeshift crutch for him to walk around on.

Ben claims that it still hurts, but I get the feeling he's just enjoying being babied. (cough, Seu, cough)

And so, they decided to send me, who has the highest bounty, mind you, to check. Nice.

We were in a regular sized town called Hiemx, and it was absolutely filled with snow. Unfortunately, the only clothes I was wearing were a long sleeved shirt, and a rain jacket, so I was pretty cold, yeah.

You might be wondering what we're doing in Hiemx. Well, we hadn't had much time to pack when we were chased out by the bounty hunters, which basically meant that we'd left all of our essentials back at the base. So, we came here to get the usual: potion ingredients, materials and crafting aids, and deadly weapons.

I sighed and creeped out of the abandoned alleyway we were hiding in, looking left and right before quickly walk-running away.

Unfortunately, everyone seemed to be on high alert for whatever reason, making me a little nervous. I looked around, and there didn't seem to be any wanted posters. There was a bunch of wooden debris on the ground.

What happened here?

I stopped upon seeing a certain wanted poster.

On the wanted poster was Fisherman.

I glowered, remembering the time Fisherman had stabbed me in the back. I hated how even on the poster he looked so smug.

Muttering under my breath, I turned...

...and ran into someone. More specifically, a police officer.

My blood froze, and I mumbled, "Sorry." I tried to move past, but the officer stuck out an arm, blocking my path.

"Hold on a moment...you look a little familiar."

My heart started pounding triple time, and I paled. "Um...I think you've got the wrong person."

The officer inspected me, and I was being torn between bolting and clocking this guy across the face when he said, "My mistake. Thought you looked like someone else. Move on."

I sighed in relief. "By the way...what happened here?"

A forlorn look went onto his face. "A disaster, that's what. Fisherman came here. Fisherman. And him and some little girl started fighting, demolishing so many things and causing hundreds of dollars worth damage. And on top of that, arson!"

_...there's no way._

"What did this girl look like, exactly?" I asked casually.

The officer frowned. "According to witnesses, she had brown hair, gray eyes, was wearing a winter coat, and blue pants. Apparently around ten to twelve years old. Why, you think you know her?"

I tried to keep my expression neutral, but it was probably the exact opposite of neutral.

"I...don't think so." I responded. I mumbled a hasty 'goodbye' to him and quickly walked away before he could get too suspicious.

"Back so quick?" Dan asked me. Upon seeing my expression, he assumed the worst. "So there are posters."

"No, no." I shook my head. "It's perfectly fine. In fact, I ran right into a police officer and he didn't recognize me."

Dan frowned. "Then what's with the expression? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Maybe not, but it's just as disturbing. Hundreds of dollars worth of damage? Fisherman? _Arson?_

_Oh, Toni. What have you gotten yourself into?_

"Hello? Cal?"

I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts. "Yeah?"

"We lost you there for a moment. Why don't you and Ender accompany Seu to the shop? You know, as a lookout." Dan jabbed his thumb towards Ender, who eyed me like I was a stranger who'd just been partnered with her in a group project.

I honestly shared the sentiment, but oh well. It wasn't like it would kill me.

"Wait wait wait." Nikai frowned. "You want to send the two of them to be guards? Are you—"

Dan subtly made a few gestures with his hands. It wasn't sign language per se, but I could have sworn I could have seen the words 'probably a bad idea' conveyed in his gestures and his expression, but that's just a guess.

Sending a mixed message here, Dan.

So all three of us girls went off towards the street. We mostly followed Seu, who took multiple twists and turns until we came to a shop about the size of your average Walmart.

Seu turned to us. "Okay, guys. If you see anybody who looks suspicious coming towards you, warn me with your PT." Seu pulled out something that looked like a mix between a walkie talkie and a phone.

Ender rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. I'm not a baby, Seu. I can handle things."

"Uh huh. Oh, and also...DON'T CAUSE ANY TROUBLE THIS TIME. GOT IT?" Seu aggressively said.

"What do you mean!?" Me and Ender said at the exact same time. Ender blinked at me. Seu sighed like she was regretting her life choices and walked into the shop.

So we just awkwardly stood outside the doorway while people walked in and out.

"So..." I said, attempting to make small talk. "I assume you're the troublemaker of the group?"

Ender snorted. "If it wasn't obvious already, pretty much. Nikai calls me the Lightning Rod. As in, I attract trouble."

"Ah." I said. A bit of a stupid response, but at that point I wasn't sure what to say.

Ender leaned against the shop's wall, and wrapped her scarf around her hand. "I've never been the subtle type, so I won't beat around the bush. I don't trust you."

I blinked at her bluntness, and she continued.

"I mean, you've only been with us for, what, two or three days?" Ender continued on. "Dan obviously fancies you. Seu and Ben have always been quick to trust, and the others? Eh. They...don't trust you yet either, but they see you as a colleague. An acquaintance at best. And suddenly we're on a quest to go and raid the Nether Prison because...what, your mother is trapped there or something?" Ender continued. "If you remember, I only agreed to this because I have nothing better to do. And no offense, but I don't remember you doing anything for the team, so..."

I frowned at her. "So you don't trust me?"

"That's the gist of it." Ender crossed her arms. "And I don't intend to anytime soon, at least not until—"

Before she could finish, Seu ran out. Upon seeing her urgent expression, Ender snapped to attention. "What happened? Where's the—"

"Carlos." Seu interrupted.

We both stared at her.

"What?!"

"SEUU!" came a shout.

It was Carlos, the ferocious bounty hunter with a metal arm.

We all started running at the same time as Carlos's shouts came closer.

"Go go go!" Seu urged, and we turned a corner right into an alleyway.

We twisted and turned everywhere, but where ever we went, he seemed to follow.

Seu beckoned us to follow her, and we ran into an old, run down building.

The stench inside was horrible—smelled like mold and something like curdled milk, but still we kept running. I could tell Carlos was behind us, so I was surprised when Seu suddenly halted and ran backwards, ramming her shoulder right into Carlos's chest and knocking him down.

"Keep running! Go, go, go! Get out of here NOW!" Seu waved us away, and we ran.

Ender pointed to a dirty window. "There!"

Behind us, there was a loud CRASH and some sort of crumpling sound, like someone balling up paper.

I turned my head, and saw that cracks were running through the ceiling and Seu running like her life depended on it, which it did.

I turned back towards the window, which Ender got to. She pulled out a baton, the kind that police use, and slammed it into the glass, shattering it. I heard Carlos bellow in fury, and Ender jumped out of the window, landing on the low ground and frantically beckoning to me.

I jumped out and landed gracefully on my face. Ender probably would have made a sarcastic comment had Seu not shouted "GET AWAY FROM THE BUILDING!"

we scrambled away, and I turned to see Seu jump through the window as cracks spread through the wall and the roof started to cave in.

The building collapsed in on itself, walls folding inwards with a sound like someone setting off fireworks.

A large cloud of dust washed over us, making us cough as we blindly ran away from the building.

We stopped a safe distance away and stood before the wreckage, as columns of dust spiraled into the air.

"Well, I mean...the building was probably going to be torn down anyways, so if you think about it, we just did the people a favor." Seu worried. "Right?"

Ender rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Okay, listen. Best case scenario, Carlos was knocked out and will be unconscious for at least an hour. Worst case scenario, he blasts his way out of the debris right now, assuming he kept that laser in his arm."

"The what in his arm?" I repeated.

"Either way, we can't take any chances. Let's go." Ender quickly beckoned to us, and we started running.

?-V-?

"What happened?" Dan asked us when he saw us. "Where's the supplies? We needed—"

"What we need is to leave, now." Ender interrupted. "It's Carlos. He's here."

Dan looked stunned. "What? How'd he find us? We're so far away from base!"

"Come on, let's go!" Ben urgently shouted, and we all quickly ran out of the alleyway.

We started to casually speed walk down the street and out of Hiemx to the lonely path in the forest where we'd tied up our horses, which had been found in a plains biome we'd gone through.

Until someone behind us shouted, "HEY!"

Of course it was Carlos.

"Go go go!" Dan urged, and we all started running.

"How'd he get out so fast?" Seu yelped.

"Hopefully not with a laser!" Ender called back.

We were almost there. The number of houses we were running past seemed to be shrinking, which meant we were getting close, but obviously Carlos wouldn't let us get away.

I heard the smash of a splash potion, and the next thing I knew I'd been thrown backwards right into the ground.

I groaned, the wind in my lungs forced out of my chest in an instant.

"CAL!" Dan turned to fight, only for Carlos to punch him in the chest. Dan staggered backwards, and Carlos delivered a spinning kick right into the side of Dan's neck, sending him crashing to the ground.

I got to my feet and noticed pale blue swirls emanating off of his body.

_Speed potion._

He proceeded to dash in front of the remaining people, blocking their path. He pulled out an axe made out of some shimmering white-grey metal and swung it at the nearest person, Durham.

The axe caught Durham in the chest and threw him backwards, despite the axe only taking up a small portion of his chest.

"Look out! The axe is enchanted with Stun and Knockback!" Seu shouted.

I got to my feet, drawing my iron sword.

Carlos swung at Seu, and she blocked the blow with her sword. An arrow from Orca slammed into his leg, making him grunt. Nikai sneaked up from behind and swung his sword at Carlos's head.

Carlos grabbed the sword and pulled it, swinging both the sword and Nikai right into Seu's chest, knocking them down.

Carlos pulled out a second axe and threw it at Orca, who got hit in the face and was knocked into the ground. At the same time, Carlos raised his other axe and slashed outwards, stopping a strike from Ben, who wasn't balanced very well and was easily knocked down.

Carlos stood there for a moment, and not even a bead of sweat had popped up on his forehead. "I'm taking all of you in."

I raised my sword and swung it at Carlos's head as hard as I could, only for Carlos to grab the sword, twist it in half and throw it away.

I laughed nervously. "Uh, we can talk about this, right?"

Carlos's face twisted in a cruel smirk. "Talk to the fist."

Suddenly arms the size of tree branches wrapped around Carlos, and there was a brief look of shock on his face before he was lifted into the air and thrown off the path right into a tree.

Durham stood there, rubbing his chest. "Come on, let's go. He won't stay unconscious for long." he said, and he then ran to the others.

Soon enough we were all back on our feet, albeit a little bruised up. Already Carlos was beginning to move, and so we started to run.

We heard a whinny and found our horses standing there hidden in the foliage off-road, just calmly loitering around a safe distance away from Shell, who was yawning and revealing his razor sharp teeth the size of kitchen knives.

"Come on, let's go!" Dan shouted, and we were all getting on our respective horses when suddenly there was a shout that didn't belong to anyone in our group, or Carlos.

"Uh oh." Ben said, which perfectly summed up the situation.

I swung myself onto Shell's back, and Shell quickly got to his feet.

"Quick, follow me! I have a friend near here who has a boat that goes straight to Cratre! Let's go!" Seu shouted, and sped off.

Just as Carlos burst through the greenery behind us, we sped off, following Seu.

Shell burst into the air with a wing beat that threw up dust and made the trees sway, and we were away, following Seu and the others to a beach that seemed a short ways away.

You'd think it'd be hard to see a full grown enderdragon at night, considering their scales are literally pitch black, but apparently not, looking at the crowd of bounty hunters following us.

Soon, we could see the dark, endless ocean in front of us, and Dan shouted, "We're here! Shell, think you can stave them off till we get in the boat?"

But right after he finished his sentence, there was a loud snapping sound, and all of a sudden I saw something like a spider web spiraling towards us.

By the time I noticed it was a net, it was too late.

It wrapped around Shell, entangling and snaring his wings. Shell let out a bellow, and we started to plummet towards the ground.

It was like déjà vu as wind whipped my hair around, blinding me as I blindly held on to Shell.

"_No, no, no!_" Dan somehow managed to take out his obsidian scimitar and was trying to cut through the net, but his scimitar shook like a branch in the wind, so it would probably result in him cutting Shell's wing instead.

I shook my hair out of my face only to see that we were headed straight towards the horses our friends were on.

I shouted, and one of them must have heard, because they looked up and yelled in shock.

A split second later, Shell plowed directly into the ground.

After flapping in the air like a banner for the duration of the fall, I was instantly slammed into Shell's back, forcing all of the air in my lungs out. Shell went into a roll, and suddenly the entire world flipped upside down as my hands slipped and I was sent spiraling into someone who grunted as I knocked them off their horse.

We both rolled away and into a ditch with some weeds and plants, and I slammed into a bush.

The branches of the bush were sharp, thorny, and generally a bad time. It felt like someone was stabbing me with a bunch of needles all over my body.

I struggled out of the bush, groaning at the pain.

I found that I'd slammed into Ender, who laid on the ground winded.

And all the while, the screaming of the bounty hunters were getting closer.

_Get up._

I struggled to my feet, still slightly disoriented. I noticed Durham and Nikai sawing away at the nets that entangled Shell's wings. I noticed some of the horses were gone. I noticed that there were cuts where the net had dug into Shell's wings, drawing purple luminescent blood.

I took all of this in in a split second, and suddenly there was shouting and screaming, and I watched as Seu dragged a groaning Dan away into a boat.

Shell was like a huge wall between us and the boat. Apparently everyone had been getting off their horses when we crashed into the ground in front of them.

"Oh, crap." Ender groaned.

"Go go go!" Seu frantically beckoned us.

Some of us all piled onto the boat, but before the rest of us could get on, the boat suddenly moved with a jolt, and started to drift away.

Ben had been knocked off his horse into the ground, and was stumbling towards the boat, but he apparently still wasn't stable enough, because he tripped and landed on his face.

I climbed out of the ditch I'd been standing in and ran for the boat, but the boat started up with a whirring sound and started to float away. Nikai managed to jump in, but by the time me, Ender, and Ben got to the boat, it was too late.

And now the bounty hunters were here. We turned to face them, but turns out we didn't have to.

Apparently the bounty hunters hadn't taken Shell's fire breath into consideration, which is kinda stupid when you consider you're up against a freaking dragon.

Some of them were smart and held up shields, or quickly placed down blocks in front of them to avoid the stream of flames that burst from Shell's mouth, but most of the others weren't so lucky.

The people in the front were practically covered in fire, with the people in the back being lucky and only having certain parts set on fire.

There was a lot of screaming and panic, and everyone ran around like you would when you're on fire. Some actually ran past us and jumped into the water.

The people who weren't on fire shot arrows, threw tridents, and tossed all sorts of stuff at us.

Suffice to say, it was pretty insane. And once again, we got on Shell's back.

Most may not know, since dragons spend most of their time in the air, but dragons can actually run pretty dang fast when they need to, and Shell was no exception.

Shell sped off, charging through the bounty hunters (and maybe trampling some) out of the beach and into the forest ahead. Unfortunately, we had one unwelcome stowaway.

Carlos was hanging from Shell's tail, and despite being dragged across the ground and probably getting all types of burns, he hung on and started pulling himself towards us.

Ender glanced backwards at Carlos and tossed a well aimed kick at his face.

Her combat boot hit him in the face, and blood spurted from his nose. And by the way he howled, I'm going to guess that it was most likely broken.

But still he hung on, and suddenly in one swift move he pulled himself onto Shell's back and tackled Ender.

One inch to the side, and both of them would fly off. Plus with Shell jumping and weaving through the forest, the odds weren't good.

They both slid to the side, and suddenly Ender was hanging on with one hand to the saddle on Shell's back.

Ender snarled pulled out a potion of poison and waved it at Carlos.

"Heeeeeey," she growled. "Guess what IIIIIII have."

Carlos's eyes widened in alarm, and Ender threw the potion.

The fragile bottle burst, and Carlos howled in pain. The glass shards probably didn't help later.

With poison and blood mixing and running down his face, he had no choice but to let go.

Carlos was quickly lost in the foliage, I pulled Ender back up, and we sped away into the night.

?-V-?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dan shouted at the unfortunate driver. "We just left three—no, four of our crew behind!"

The driver stammered, "W-well, the bounty hunters were coming, you see, and—"

"You panicked and left? Even though we still had time to get them on?" Dan's voice was stone cold.

"Well, what would we have done about the dragon? From what I saw she wouldn't have been able to fly anyways!" the driver argued. "And even if we got her on the boat, she would have weighed us down anyways!"

"We would have figured something out!" Dan yelled. "We're going back! And by the way, Shell is a BOY!"

Seu put a calming hand on Dan's shoulder. "Dan. You know we can't do that."

"Why not?" Dan said, turning to Seu. "They could be dead by now!"

"They have a dragon, Dan." Seu reassured. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"A dragon who can't fly!" Dan ran his hand through his hair.

"Dan." Orca sighed. "We wouldn't have been able to do anything anyways. The man is right. We just have to hope that they find their own way to Cratre."

"Then we're going to have to be doing a lot of hoping, Orca."

?-V-?

Ender paced back and forth in the darkness. Shell had stopped in a clearing and plopped down, and that was the end of it. We agreed not to make a campfire, because although we were a long ways away from the rest of the bounty hunters, we couldn't risk drawing attention to ourselves with too much smoke.

"Well, this is great." Ender grunted. "We've been abandoned by the others, and we're supposed to meet them in Cratre, which sucks because it is a _twenty-four trip_, and that's only if we keep going without resting, which is not likely, as we have a _wounded_ dragon, a boy with unsteady legs, and a girl with horrible stamina."

"Hey!" I shouted. "I'm not that—"

"Ender, they didn't abandon us and you know it. If you want to blame someone, blame the driver of the boat." Ben said tiredly.

Ender made a frustrated noise. "I know. I'm just pissed right now."

"All of us are pissed in some way." Ben sighed. "We just have to deal with it."

"Oh, super advice." Ender groaned. "Let's go. I'm sure the bounty hunters aren't far behind us."

"Shell still needs to rest," I said to Ender. "He's going to collapse if we keep forcing him to move, and then it'll take even slower."

Ender huffed and turned away.

Ben looked at me apologetically. "Sorry, Ender gets a little touchy when something like this happens. She has a bit of a bad temper."

"I can still hear you," Ender yelled, and Ben went silent.

Ben sighed again. "Let's get some rest, and then head out."

I laid down on the grass and closed my eyes, and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

**It was not my intention for this to be an action chapter.**

**Before you complain that 99 percent of 'Herobrine Reborn' is action, I can't help it! It just happens!**

**And also...god, autocorrect sucks.**

**Here's a list of thing I've had people's names autocorrected to:**

**Shell: She'll**

**Seu: See, Sue, Seuss, Set**

**Enderdragon: Endear dragon**

**Nikai: Nikki, Nokia **

**Yeah, Seu's name is confusing the heck out of autocorrect. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter that should not have taken as long as it did. Hope you have a good day/night.**

**Peace out.**

**_Krios_ **


	19. PSA: Put On Seatbelt When Riding Dragon

**Well...I was right. I couldn't keep up with my upload date, and I don't even have a good reason. I'm just procrastinating like a lazy student putting off studying for a test to play video games all day. ;-;**

**In other, less depressing news...**

**3,400 views! 14 favourites! 20 followers!**

**I'm going to be honest, I didn't expect that much of an audience when I uploaded this fanfic. Thanks for the support, and being patient with me and my crappy and inconsistent upload rate. I appreciate it.**

**Unless you hate me because I make you wait weeks on end to read a single sub-par chapter. If so, then uh...sorrrrrryyyyyy...?**

**Reviews!**

**r0t013the username issue: I don't play Pokemon. Sorry...**

**ayannamichaeli: *deep breath* S**

**Not much, but it's whatevs.**

**Read this and cringe!**

_**Krios**_

* * *

PSA: Put On Seatbelt When Riding Dragon

You'd think that the universe would give me a break after having my entire village burnt to the ground, capturing a deadly criminal, barely escaping a crowd of bounty hunters twice, and finding out that my sister is apparently on the wanted list. But nooooo.

I was still sleepy and tired when Ben shook me awake.

"Cal, get up!"

I groaned and opened my eyes.

"It's still night." I said blearily.

"Yes, yes. It's only been two hours, but—"

"Two hours?" I was outraged. "Come on! Don't we need more rest to—"

Ben clamped a hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"Shh!" Ben whispered. "Can't your hear that?"

I listened carefully. There was a loud rustling and crackling sound, like someone walking on dry leaves in the fall.

Sure, it could have been a zombie, but we weren't taking any risks.

We quickly creeped back onto Shell's back, who was very much awake and eyeing the foliage suspiciously.

We got on Shell's back and Shell quickly bounded away into the forest, leaving the sound behind.

Shell ran for what was probably a full thirty minutes before we came to a stop.

"What's happening?" Ben, who was sitting in the back asked. "Why'd we stop? What—oh."

We were standing on a beach, and what looked like a never ending sea stretched out in front of us. I shivered—it was pretty chilly.

It wasn't a sea, apparently according to Ben. "This is a lake that runs between Hiemx and Cratre, and it's only a ten minute trip to go over, but...Shell can't exactly swim, can he? Or fly?" Ben informed us.

"I don't think so. The wounds are still kind of fresh. Those ropes must have dug in hard." Ender muttered, staring at the pale, slightly pink grid patterned scars on Shell's wings. "We can speed up the healing process by using a Healing Two or Regeneration pot, but we'd need glistening melon or ghast tears to make both of those. And we never actually got to get everything we needed from Hiemx."

Ben groaned. "So we're stuck."

"Well, no. I do have gold, but I'd also need a melon for a regeneration pot." Ender sighed.

"I have melon seeds." Ben said, taking out a handful of seeds from his inventory. "No bone meal to grow it, though."

Ender frowned. "How long does it take the average melon to grow?"

"Um...I can't be sure, but...I estimate three, four hours? Could be longer." Ben shrugged helplessly.

Ender sighed. "So...we need bone meal. Good thing it's night."

"Well, it will become daytime in three and a half hours, so we'll need to hurry." I said, glancing at my watch.

"Well we'll need to hurry then." Ender said. "Ben, you go and look for skeletons to turn into bone meal. I'll set up the potions. And Calliope, you plant the melon seeds."

"Why do you get the easy job?" I complained.

Ender scowled. "Says the girl who's never had boiling blaze powder spill onto their hands."

I grunted, and me and Ben ran towards the forest.

Ben glanced at me and tossed the melon seeds towards me. I caught them, and he flashed a brief grin at me before dashing into the woods. I glanced around and spotted a rock. I picked up the rock and started bashing away at a tree until the only thing left was a roof of leaves floating in the air.

I started crafting, opening my inventory and making a crafting table.

I pulled the crafting table out of the crafting grid and placed it. You don't need to know the whole process, but the point is that I ended up with a few planks, sticks, a crafting table, and one hoe.

I punched up a block of dirt and ran over to the water to place it down and...hoe it? I don't know what it's called when you use a hoe on the ground, but I did it and planted the melon seeds.

I turned to Ender, who was muttering to herself and tinkering with the potion stand with a hard look on her face, and placing potions in the brewing stand.

"Well, now we wait for Ben." Ender said, straightening with a satisfied look on her face.

"How much bone meal do we need?" I asked.

Ender frowned. "Just three, I think. I mean...you can make three bone meal from one bone, so if he finds just one skeleton, we'll be good."

"Well, does he know that we only need one bone?" I asked Ender.

Ender blinked. "Oh...he'll know. Probably."

"Wait. What do you mean probably?"

We heard rustling from the woods, and Ben burst out of the woods with a panicked look on his face.

"That was fast." Ender said. Before Ben could say anything, Ender cut in. "Let me guess. Carlos?"

Ben nodded.

Ender made an annoyed noise. "God's sake. He's like a stupid tree. You see one everywhere you go."

"That's certainly a metaphor." I said, but Ben and Ender ignored me.

"You at least got the bone meal, right?" Ender asked. "Wait. Did Carlos see you at all?"

"I think he caught a glimpse of me," Ben nervously said. "but then again, he might have not."

We heard a faint shout: "Beeen! _Endeeer_!"

"He saw me." Ben affirmed.

"Thanks for the information, Sherlock." Ender scowled. "Hand me the bone meal now."

Ben handed her the bone meal, and she rushed over to the melon plant and dumped all of the bone meal on it.

Green sparks flew up, and suddenly there was a fully grown melon in front of us, the vine sprouting into a melon that fell onto the sandy beach.

Ender quickly harvested the melon, then placed the melon slices on the crafting table, surrounding it with golden nuggets.

And ta-da, Ender'd just created a glistening melon slice.

Ender inserted it into the brewing stand, just as Carlos emerged from the woods, carrying two axes and a whole lot of greed.

"Found you," he chirped before hurling one of the axes at me.

I guarantee that I would have been killed if Ben hadn't dashed in front of me and blocked the axe, which fell with a thud on the sand.

Ender pulled out a grey potion and tossed it at Carlos. It shattered on him, and instantly his movement slew down as if he were walking on soul sand. Carlos took a step back, and Ben charged.

Even under the effects of a slowness potion, Carlos was a force to be reckoned with. Ben swung his sword at Carlos's chest and then feinted towards his legs, slashing one of them.

Instead of cutting through his leg, the sword bounced off—like he'd swung at a stone wall instead of a person.

That's when I noticed the crimson colored swirls coming off of his body.

"Look out! He's under the effect of a Strength Potion!" Ender shouted, but too late. Carlos dashed forwards, surprisingly fast considering he was inflicted with Slowness, and kicked Ben's legs out from underneath him.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to help?" Ender yelled at me.

"I would have if I wanted to, but he bent my sword in half, remember?" I reminded her.

"Well, do something at least! That was my last offensive potion!"

I turned to Carlos, who was lifting Ben into the air by his neck. He started squeezing, making Ben choke.

"Hey!" I threw my wooden hoe at him. By some stroke of luck, the sharp end hit him in the face, and sliced his cheek. It wasn't exactly life threatening, but it made him drop Ben, at least.

"Hold him while I heal Shell!" Ender shouted, and I ran forward, still not entirely sure what I would do.

Carlos raised his axe and swung at me. Right before the axe would have slashed my neck I placed two wooden planks in front of me.

Considering the axe was made of titanium, it easily chopped through the planks in two strikes, but I dashed forwards, rolling under his third swing and grabbing the hoe. As he turned, I shattered the hoe over his head.

He staggered back, more out of the force of the blow than the pain.

And at that moment, an empty glass bottle hit the back of his head, shattering on impact. Carlos turned, only to have Shell's tail slam into his chest, smashing him into the ground and sending up a cloud of sand.

"Get on!" Ender shouted, and while Carlos was still disoriented, I pulled up Ben and we both ran towards Shell. Ben hoisted me onto Shell, and I helped on Ben.

I barely had time to wrap my hands around Ender's waist before Shell burst into the air, and as Carlos got up, we were flying over the enormous lake.

"You two can swim, right?" Ender asked.

"Yeah," me and Ben both said.

"Well, that's good. I can't, so if I fall, you two will save me, right?" Ender asked.

"Sure," Ben said.

"Cal?" Ender pressed.

"Yeah, sure." I muttered.

?-V-?

Dan paced back and forth on the ground as everyone got out of the boat.

Nikai noticed and said sarcastically, "Jeez, Dan. Why don't you swim back if you're so worried?"

"Yeah...maybe.." Dan mumbled to himself.

"That was a joke." Nikai clarified. "Don't...actually. You'll probably drown before you—OW!"

Seu appeared out of nowhere and smacked Nikai over the head with a fish.

"What was that for?" Nikai complained. "Wait, did you just whack me with a fish? What the heck!?"

"Don't tease him." Seu lectured. "Can't you see he's out of his mind with worry?"

"Yeesh. Seriously. And you wonder why we call you the Fairy Godmother." Nikai muttered. "Honestly, who are you, my grandmother?"

Seu raised the fish threateningly. "Nik..."

"Seriously?" Nikai complained. "You too? What is with the name Nik? I'm not even a gir—OW!"

Nikai yelped again as Seu smacked him with the fish again.

"Fine, fine!" Nikai grumbled as he walked away.

Dan chuckled wearily. "Whacking people with fish? What do you want me to call you now—Fisherwoman?"

Seu rolled her eyes. "That's about as funny as a dead rat."

"Awe, it's not that bad!"

"The point is, I know you're worried about Cal, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She can hold her own." Seu assured Dan. "And I'm sure Ender and Ben will keep her in check."

"More like Ben will keep Ender and Cal in check." Dan muttered. "God...if it weren't for that coward steering the boat...they had time to get on and safely get away."

Seu sighed. "Well, what's happened, happened. There's not much we can do."

Dan smirked. "That's a very Nikai-ish statement."

"Don't insult me like that." Seu glared at Dan.

"Point taken."

?-V-?

The fifteen minutes we'd spent flying felt more like fifteen hours.

Every so often, me or Ender would suddenly jolt, like we'd ran over a speed bump, and every time it happened I nearly had a heart attack. Oh, and the fog that drifted over the lake didn't help.

Eventually we got to the other side, and when we did, I slid off onto the ground, my knees shaking like a branch on a windy day.

"God. That felt like riding a rollercoaster with no safety restraints." Ben groaned.

"Agreed." I moaned. "Dan needs to at least add seatbelts to his dragon or something."

Ender frowned. "Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad."

I found it ironic that the only person in our group who couldn't swim was the most calm out of us three.

"Well, I certainly feel sick." I groaned. "Wait. If you're flying over a lake, does it make you air sick or sea sick? Or both?"

"If you're flying, it's air sick." Ender frowned. "But that's not the important part. The important part is getting to Cratre."

"What? We're already there, though...right?" I asked.

"Nope. Not even close. We still have around twenty three hours of walking."

...

_Welp, there goes my hopes and dreams. Touché, fate._

At the look on my face, Ben attempted to reassure me. "But, I mean, we do have a dragon. You know dragons are pretty fast, right?"

"True." Ender agreed. "So..."

I sighed. "More dragon riding?"

Ender nodded. "Yup."

"The books never say how uncomfortable really riding a dragon is." I muttered. "Can't we contact Dan in any way?"

Ben nodded. "That's a good idea. Ender, where's the PT? You have it, right?"

Ender stared at her feet.

"Ender. You did not lose the PT."

Ender sheepishly pulled out a completely snapped in half PT.

"It snapped when Shell pulled us out of the bounty hunter base," she said.

I made an annoyed grunt. "So...no way to contact Dan in any way, shape, or form. That's great."

"So, we resume flying?" I sighed.

"Yeah."

"Well, that's great." I said tiredly. "Let's go."

We got back onto Shell's back. Shell flew back into the air, and we were off.

This time, though, Shell seemed to know that I was uncomfortable, and tried to fly a bit more steadier. Maybe it was just me, but that's what it seemed like.

"Want a melon?" Ben held a melon slice out to me. "They're nice and sweet."

"Sure." I took the melon slice, only for it to slip and burst on my chest.

"Awwe," I complained. "I was hungry."

"And now you smell like melons." Ender muttered.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Depends."

We were silent for around...twenty, thirty minutes, with me holding onto Shell's back like my life depended on it. (Which it did.) As we flew through the air, Ender turned to me, which is a dangerous thing to do on a flying dragon. "So. Mind telling us why Klith, a notorious psychopath, is after you?"

I was taken aback by the sudden question. "Me? No, I have no idea why!"

"Well, what about your sister?" Ender asked. "She's wanted too. And for a much higher price, I might add."

"..." I didn't say anything.

_'Fisherman came here. Fisherman. And him and some little girl started fighting, demolishing so many things and causing hundreds of dollars worth damage. And on top of that, arson!'_

"No idea." I lied.

Ender frowned doubtfully. I looked away so she couldn't see the panicked look in my eyes.

_It can't be, right? There's no way. My sister, who used to cry when she accidentally crush bugs couldn't...it's just a coincidence._

_But what if it's not?_

I guess getting in trouble all the time wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because now I was a master at lying. I kept my voice steady and looked her right in the eyes, all trace of dishonesty gone. I had on a puzzled expression, like I couldn't possibly know anything.

Ender kept up the questioning, though. "You sure? Not even a hint as to what she could be doing?"

Ben frowned at Ender. "Ender, she's clearly uncomfortable. Can you just—"

"Hey, I just need to know if we're working with some high profile criminal's sister right now." Ender told Ben. "I'm just curious."

"Well, I am too." I suddenly got annoyed. "But of course. I understand completely. I understand that you're suspicious of a twelve year old that likes to read more than go outside."

Ender was not happy. "I'm trying to be nice here."

"I'd hate to see you being mean, then." I snarled.

"Well, I'd love to see you actually be competent for once and not run away all the time!" Ender shouted.

"You've just crossed a line." I don't know what I was going to do, considering we were in a dragon speeding fifty miles per hour, but Ben yelled, "Shut up!"

Ender glowered at Ben. "Ben, I am trying to—"

"No, not that!" Ben softly growled. "Look!"

He pointed at the ground, and we looked down.

There was the purple glow of a nether portal, hidden by some trees.

"A nether portal?" Ender asked. "Here?"

"What else could it be?" Ben muttered. "Shell, get down there. And quietly."

"Ben, it might be dangerous!" I whispered.

Ender scowled. "Yeah, we're never in danger."

"You two, cut it out!" Ben hissed. "Let's go!"

Shell silently hit the ground, and we slid off. Ben turned to me and made a series of gestures that I couldn't understand.

I blinked, and Ben repeated the gestures.

Ender rolled her eyes and unnecessarily snapped her fingers to get my attention.

She pulled out a book and a pencil, wrote in it, and showed me her writing.

Move in quietly and hide behind those bushes.

"Oh," I whispered. "Why didn't you just write that in the first place?"

Ender rolled her eyes.

We quietly crept towards the nether portal, Ben gesturing to Shell to stay still. Shell somehow understood, and I was momentarily depressed that a dragon could understand sign language and I couldn't.

As we crept up to the bushes, we quickly hid behind the bushes, making sure the bushes were opaque enough that nobody could see us through the bushes. Ben his behind a smaller bush, and me and Ender crouched behind the shelter of a rather large bush.

Luckily, the night (or rather the really, really, early day) was on our side, because it was still so dark that nobody could see us even if the only thing we'd been hiding behind was a dead bush. The dim portal light could have given us away, but not unless someone actually looked for us.

We heard footsteps, but no voices.

"What's going on?" I whispered as quietly as I could.

"Let me check to see through the bush with my super vision I have." Ender whispered back. "Oh, wait."

"No need to be a jerk about it!"

Suddenly we heard a deep, raspy voice talking.

"Sir...are you sure you can go alone? If you are to be spotted in public..."

"Let them spot me for all I care. Soon it won't matter. The end is nigh, and soon all will be gone. The Aether will be wiped off the map, and so will those insufferable children." the man spat out the words like they tasted bad in his mouth.

I gave a small gasp, and Ender clapped a hand over my mouth. Luckily, the 'whooshing' sound of the nether portal masked my gasp.

_Is this man talking about...no. He can't be._

_But...this man is talking with a pigman, I assume. They all have deep, raspy voices. I know from my time in the Nether Prison. But this pigman referred to this man is 'sir'._

_So...does that mean it's...!?_

Ender came to the same conclusion as me, and frantically shook her head at me. I didn't know what she meant by that, but I assumed it meant 'don't move a single inch'.

It was _Klith_ that was standing besides the nether portal, and considering he put a five hundred thousand emerald bounty on my head, I was pretty sure he would be pretty joyed to hear I was barely a minimum of five meters away from him.

Klith suddenly sniffed the air. "Is it just me, or do I smell...melon?"

I suddenly had a flashback to thirty minutes ago, when I dropped a melon slice on my chest.

Ender looked at me like I was shooting party poppers into the air and waving around big flags that said, 'Here I am! Please throw me in jail!', but there was nothing I could do! What could I do!?"

"Yes, come to think of it, there is a faint smell of melon in the air." the pigman said, sniffing the air.

"I'm probably going insane." Klith said. "Either that or the melon soda I drank the other day is still on my breath."

I silently thanked the creator of carbonated melon drinks.

"Anyways...there will be no need to accompany me. I will be perfectly fine on my own. Cratre is only twenty two hours away. Oh, and deactivate the portal when you go through, eh? Even though this is the middle of nowhere, we can't have any rats sneak into Hell's Tree, can we? No. Anyways, I will be off. Goodbye. Have fun torturing my enemies."

We heard footsteps slowly fade away, and we saw a dark silhouette walk away. Klith raised his arms, and crimson red flames rose up, engulfing Klith. The fire that contained Klith suddenly shot away with a loud boom, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaving embers floating in his wake.

The pigman stood there for a painfully long moment before walking into the portal. A few minutes after, the purple light disappeared, and the portal was deactivated.

I hadn't realized that I'd been holding my breath, and I hadn't realized until I nearly passed out. I took a deep, shaky breath, and breathed out.

"Dear god." Ender let out a huge breath. "I haven't been that nervous since the incident back in Janlyn."

"Let's not talk about that." Ben stood. "Let's go. I don't feel safe here."

We turned to leave, except Ender didn't move.

"Ender?" Ben asked. "You coming?" Ender had a look of dread on her face. "Guys, he's going to Cratre." Ender recalled.

"And?" Ben asked, puzzled.

I realized something. "And you know who else is going to Cratre?"

Ben paled. "Dan. And the others."

"But how?" Ender asked in shock. "We only just left for Cratre! How did he know?"

"We need to get to Cratre." I urged. "Right now."

?-V-?

"Can we rest or no?" Nikai whined. "We've been going for an hour now."

"An hour?" Seu said sarcastically. "Oh, no! How tiring!"

"You never used to be this sarcastic." Nikai said to Seu.

Orca elbowed Nikai in the ribs, making him yelp in pain.

"Ow! _What_, Orca?" Nikai complained.

"Ben," was all Orca said.

"Oh. Right."

"Would everyone just—shut it?" Dan put his hands to his ears. "Honestly. Would it kill you, Nikai, to stop talking for one minute?"

"Everyone's so touchy today." Nikai muttered to himself.

Seu turned to see Durham looking back. "Durham?" Seu asked. "What are you doing?"

Durham turned around and looked at her. "Guys? We might have a problem."

Everyone turned around.

No one saw anything at first. But then they saw it in the distance, and were instantly on the defense.

It looked like a raging, crimson red inferno, and it left trails of smoke and embers in it's wake. And even worse, it was coming towards them.

* * *

**Originally, the chapter name was 'Would It Kill You To Put Seatbelts On Your Dang Dragon?' but rejected it. Waah.**

**Again, I really am sorry for not updating in a while, so thanks for being patient.**

**Anyways, tooodle loo. Krios signing out.**


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